'Sport Matters' Podcast: Did Deion Sanders and Travis Hunter Just Change College Sports?
Why this matters
As NIL, new transfer portal rules and wacky money for NCAA football coaches change the face of college sports, the biggest domino yet may be Travis Hunter committing to HBCU Jackson State and head coach Deion Sanders.
On the show, CEO of the Global Sport Institute Kenneth L. Shropshire and award-winning journalist William C. Rhoden of The Undefeated dig deeper into the decision by top recruit Travis Hunter to choose Jackson State University and head coach Deion Sanders over Florida State, what it means in the wider history of HBCU football, and whether it signals a true sea change in the landscape of college sports, or if it's unique to "Coach Prime" and Hunter's priorities in 2021.
'Sport Matters' episodes arrive once per month to the Global Sport Matters podcast. From academia to media, Ken and Bill discuss the edges of sport, unpacking race and culture beyond the game.
Find this and every episode of the Global Sport Matters podcast wherever you get audio content or all in one place here.
The Global Sport Matters Podcast is presented by Morgan Stanley Global Sports & Entertainment, a division of Morgan Stanley Wealth Management dedicated to serving the unique and sophisticated needs of professional athletes and entertainers.
About the hosts:
Professor Kenneth L. Shropshire is CEO of the Global Sport Institute and the adidas Distinguished Professor of Global Sport at Arizona State University. He took on this current leadership role following a 30-year career as an endowed full professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
William C. Rhoden is a columnist and Editor-at-Large for The Undefeated, ESPN’s news site about sports, race, and culture. He is the curator of the Rhoden Fellows and is also the author of several books, including 40 Million Dollar Slaves: The Rise, Fall, and Redemption of the Black Athlete. Before joining The Undefeated, Rhoden wrote an award-winning sports column for the New York Times and appeared as a guest on ESPN’s Sports Reporters for nearly 30 years. Rhoden began his journalism career as a news reporter at the Baltimore Afro American Newspaper. He was a senior editor with Ebony Magazine and then a columnist and jazz critic for the Baltimore Sun. Rhoden attended Morgan State University in Baltimore where he majored in English.
Monthly Issue
NIL & the Future of College Sports
College sports changed dramatically this year with new NCAA rules allowing athletes to profit from their names, images, and likenesses (NILs). For athlete empowerment advocates, it was a major victory—one that could prompt further reform and reorganization across the landscape of intercollegiate athletics.
How has NIL already impacted college sports, and what is on the horizon for campuses and their communities around the United States?
