I have written this idea to Swimming World and USA Swimmer and now I want to share it with my Forum Friends to see if I can garner any support. I just read the report in the ASCA magazine on how the implementation of Title IX has hurt men's swimming. As a supporter of womens sports I think Title IX has done much more good than harm. As a fan of college swimming I think the NCAA has done more harm than good. I was searching for a solution that would get swimming out of being at the mercy of the NCAA.The solution seems to be to start a scholarship fund for swimmers to be administered by USA Swimming. Criteria would be set up,both athletic and academic,for deserving swimmers to earn college scholarships to the college of their choice. The swimmer would be free to swim for the college if they had a team if desired or for the appropriate club if they don't. If they earn a swimming scholarship from the college the extra funds could be recycled back into the program.In the interest of fairness the scholarships would go to an equal number of men and women. This program would not be a way to get around Title IX but to get around the NCAA. Yes,it would take a massive fund raising effort,but I think most swimmers,parents,Masters,and corporate sponsors would be interested in donating(I would.) It would give swimming great publicity and would be a great recruiting tool. What do Y'all think?
Allen,
Good ideas and we need to keep them coming and implemented. Only problem is that the NCAA places a limit on scholarships to athletes no matter what the source. We ran a small scholarship in St Louis (in honor of Penny Taylor) and ran into this problem. If the school was already giving out the limit (something like 9.5 for the men and 11 for the women) then the student could not accept our money. The thing that gets you is the fact that the scholarship required the student to be an athlete.
One thought that I have been trying to get people excited about (and not getting very far :-( ) is the following. It is based upon the fact that men's swimming is one of the first to go, that football keeps getting bigger and my youngest daughter is a freshman at Rutgers where this was the last year of mens swimming. I would like to see the Congress pass the following TAX legislation in support of Olympic Sports.
Contributions to non-Olympic Sports at colleges and universities are tax deductable only if the school provides at least as many full scholarship equivalents to Olympic sports as non-Olympic sports for each gender (men and women counted separately). This would have the effect of placing a bottom on the number of Olympic Sport scholarships at least 80 (current football limit) for the men. Then Title IX can come into play as it was intended and cause women sports to be added to bring them into compliance.
The Ted Stevens Amateur Sports Act gave colleges special rights in light of the fact that they were, at the time, doing a good job of developing Olympic athletes. Things have changed since then so we have to revisit. Right now the congress has shown a reluctance (at least before the last election) to open up the Amateur Sports Act because of concerns about more politics being interjected than necessary. So the above approach could help without touching the ASA. Also, it seems that the IRS is looking at college football with respect to their not-for-profit, tax deductable status right now. The NCAA might actually go for this if it gets the IRS off of their back.
Leo
Allen,
Good ideas and we need to keep them coming and implemented. Only problem is that the NCAA places a limit on scholarships to athletes no matter what the source. We ran a small scholarship in St Louis (in honor of Penny Taylor) and ran into this problem. If the school was already giving out the limit (something like 9.5 for the men and 11 for the women) then the student could not accept our money. The thing that gets you is the fact that the scholarship required the student to be an athlete.
One thought that I have been trying to get people excited about (and not getting very far :-( ) is the following. It is based upon the fact that men's swimming is one of the first to go, that football keeps getting bigger and my youngest daughter is a freshman at Rutgers where this was the last year of mens swimming. I would like to see the Congress pass the following TAX legislation in support of Olympic Sports.
Contributions to non-Olympic Sports at colleges and universities are tax deductable only if the school provides at least as many full scholarship equivalents to Olympic sports as non-Olympic sports for each gender (men and women counted separately). This would have the effect of placing a bottom on the number of Olympic Sport scholarships at least 80 (current football limit) for the men. Then Title IX can come into play as it was intended and cause women sports to be added to bring them into compliance.
The Ted Stevens Amateur Sports Act gave colleges special rights in light of the fact that they were, at the time, doing a good job of developing Olympic athletes. Things have changed since then so we have to revisit. Right now the congress has shown a reluctance (at least before the last election) to open up the Amateur Sports Act because of concerns about more politics being interjected than necessary. So the above approach could help without touching the ASA. Also, it seems that the IRS is looking at college football with respect to their not-for-profit, tax deductable status right now. The NCAA might actually go for this if it gets the IRS off of their back.
Leo
