Think Tank gets in the game with chat about college sports

Super Bowl weekend is a good time to take a look at the status of big-time sports in America.

We focus primarily on the big-time collegiate level sports, which many have observed are increasingly taking on the character of professional sports.

Much is changing in that world as college athletes just this year became eligible for highly compensated endorsement deals, which apparently are being used as inducements to sign with preferred college teams.

• Are big-time college athletics no longer really amateur?
• Is actually paying college athletes directly now on the horizon?
• Does gaming increase the number of sports fans, or is it more the other way around?
• What impacts are we likely to see in collegiate athletics as a result of these changes as well as the loosening of the rules regarding transfers to other institutions?

The Think Tank invited two highly qualified observers to reflect on these changes.

AJ Maestas is the founder of Navigate, that advises leading brands and organizations in sports and entertainment. He is expert at valuing sports industry sponsorships. Their clients include all five major domestic professional sports leagues, collegiate conferences and other high-profile sports enterprises.

Dawn Rogers is the deputy athletics director at Baylor University and serves as sport administrator for the 2021 NCAA champion men’s basketball team. In her 25-plus years of collegiate administration, she’s worked at Arizona State, Xavier University and University of Akron and was executive director of the 2017 Phoenix Final Four.

The Think Tank airs on KTAR 92.3 FM on Saturday 6-7 p.m. and Sunday 9-10 p.m.

Podcasts are available after broadcast. Older shows are archived at www.mikeoneil.org.