The Drake Group Examines 2023 Congressional Efforts to Alleviate the College Athlete NIL Chaos
Representatives of the NCAA, prominent athletic conferences, and athletics administrators have been pacing the halls of Congress asking their Senators and Representatives for federal laws that would negate the patchwork of state laws that gave college athletes name, image, and likeness employment rights outside their education institutions. Such employment is a good thing for athletes, […]
Why is the Department of Education Office for Civil Rights Failing to Help Colleges and Universities Resolve the Current Name/Image/Likeness Chaos?
On August 1, 2023, The Drake Group sent its fourth request to the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights asking that they issue existing Title IX guidance to colleges and universities to address sex discrimination in recruiting, publicity, promotion, and financial aid by name/image/likeness collectives (NIL collectives) they are directly and indirectly supporting. […]
Following Reports of Hazing and Abuse, The Drake Group Calls Upon Congress to Enact the College Athletes Bill of Rights
WESTPORT, CT – July 18, 2023. Prompted by last week’s reports about systemic sexual hazing, harassment, racism, and other abuse in Northwestern University athletics programs, The Drake Group renewed its call for Congressional action on the College Athletes Bill of Rights, sponsored by U.S. Senators Cory Booker (NJ) and Richard Blumenthal (CT). The legislation would […]
The Drake Group Meets with Government Officials to Request Issuance of Title IX NIL Guidance
On March 9, 2023, a delegation of Title IX and NIL experts from The Drake Group (TDG) met with Department of Education Office for Civil Rights (OCR) staff members to ask for the assistance of OCR to ensure gender equity and compliance with Title IX in the new chaotic environment created by NIL (name, image, […]
The Drake Group Letter to U.S. Dept. of Education/Office for Civil Rights — Request for Issuance of Title IX Guidance Addressing Recruiting Practices of NIL Booster Collectives
The Drake Group believes that the current NIL chaos can be relieved by DOE/OCR clearly and precisely warning institutions, their conferences, and national governance organizations of their obligations under existing Title IX requirements, explaining how those requirements apply to these new NIL-related activities, and warning that actions by “NIL booster collectives” will be attributed to the universities when appropriate. The […]
The Drake Group Endorses the FAIR PLAY FOR WOMEN ACT
The Drake Group strongly endorses the Fair Play for Women Act and applauds Representative Adams and Senator Murphy for sponsoring the bill. The Act would strengthen existing statutes that require colleges and universities to publicly report data demonstrating their compliance with the athletics provisions of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 and, for […]
Drake President Andrew Zimbalist Introduces New Sister Organization
The Drake Group has established a new non-profit organization under the fiscal 501(c)(3) sponsorship of the Players Philanthropy Fund – THE DRAKE GROUP EDUCATION FUND. Andrew Zimbalist, Drake President explained, “Doing so will enable two important things to happen. First, The Drake Group will be better positioned to focus on its priority mission of influencing […]
The Drake Group: Who We Are
Learn about the mission and purpose of The Drake Group – working for the past two decades on critical college athletics reform issues. See the full story
Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel: NCAA Student-Athletic Academic Reform
Real Sports investigates who is responsible for enabling student-athletes with elementary
The Economics of College Sport
Andrew Zimbalist, Robert A. Woods Professor of Economics, Smith College; President-Elect, The Drake Group; author of Unpaid Professionals: Commercialism and Conflict in Big-time College Sports (1999), The Economics of Sport, I & II (2001), Unwinding Madness: What Went Wrong with College Sports and How to Fix It (2017) with Gerry Gurney and Donna Lopiano, and Whither College Sports (2021), explains the economics of […]