COLLEGE SPORTS

On 2026-01-21, Representative Haley M. Stevens (D-MI-11) delivered a floor speech titled "COLLEGE SPORTS" in the House. The speech addressed the environment.

COLLEGE SPORTS

Congressional Record, Volume 172 Issue 14 (Wednesday, January 21, 2026) [Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 14 (Wednesday, January 21, 2026)] [House] [Pages H1157-H1158] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [ www.gpo.gov ] COLLEGE SPORTS (Ms. STEVENS asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.) Ms. STEVENS. Mr. Speaker, after Monday's college football national championship, I rise to express my concern about the trend of private equity firms attempting to buy up college sports. These deals will be bad for athletes, students, and fans. We have seen this play before. Media corporations' pursuit of college football and basketball viewers created nonsensical conference realignment that destroyed the regional nature of [[Page H1158]] college sport. For generations, the Big Ten was known as the Midwestern Conference. In recent decades, that identity has slowly been eroded as coastal schools were admitted in the name of more revenue and higher profits. Now private equity is looking to buy college sports revenue streams. If these deals are normalized, it is only a matter of time before private investors demand control over our university athletic departments. This creates the risk of further conference realignment, cutting nonrevenue sports, and expanding for-profit influence over universities. This is why I have sent a letter with my Republican colleagues to end the NCAA. ____________________