Can Sports Save Small Colleges? - Commentary

Aaron Basko, vice president for enrollment, marketing, and communications at the University of Lynchburg (VA), writes:  If you’ve been paying attention to college sports this summer, you’ve probably heard a lot about the Atlantic Coast Conference’s football TV deal with ESPN, and how it is adding Stanford, the University of California at Berkeley, and Southern Methodist University. Or you may have heard about how the University of Oregon will soon be playing teams like the University of Maryland, since it is joining the Big Ten. Or maybe about the millions — yes millions — of dollars some college athletes are now earning in name, image, and likeness deals. Behind the chaotic changes lies the promise of transformative amounts of money for colleges.