Hamilton College’s Common Ground Program presents its first program of the semester, “Competing Interests: A Conversation on the Future of College Sports.”
Knight Commission CEO Amy Privette Perko and Jim Cavale, chair of Athletes.org, will discuss the future of college sports and the competing interests surrounding athlete pay. The conversation will be moderated by Jeremy Foley who was named University of Florida’s director of athletics in 1992 and handled virtually every aspect of the university’s athletic program during his 25-year career.

Amy Privette Perko is the chief executive officer of the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics, an independent leadership group whose purpose is to lead change to prioritize college athletes’ education, health, safety, and success. She has served the commission in a leadership position since 2005. During Perko’s tenure, the NCAA has adopted a number of the Knight Commission’s recommendations. The most prominent of these actions include requiring teams to be on track to graduate 50 percent of their players to be eligible for postseason championships. Amy played basketball at Wake Forest and is a member of the Wake Forest Sports Hall of Fame.

Jim Cavale is an Upstate New York native from Syracuse. He is the founder of Athletes.org (AO), which is the players’ association for college athletes and serves as a mechanism for college athletes to collectively negotiate their terms. He founded INFLCR, a sports tech company supporting student-athletes in building their social media brands and managing their NIL (name, image, and likeness) payments. Jim played baseball at the University of Montevallo.

Moderator Jeremy Foley retired from the University of Florida (UF) in 2017 where he served as athletic director for 25 years. During his tenure, the UF athletic program ranked among the nation’s top 10 for 33 straight years according to national all-sport rankings. Foley also has ties with Upstate New York. He played football and lacrosse at Hobart and William Smith.

Common Ground is Hamilton’s widely acclaimed multi-format program designed to explore cross-boundary political thought and complex social issues. The Sept. 9 program will address some of the complex issues currently involving college athletics including:
athlete pay and their opportunities to make money via their names, images, and likenesses;
gender equity;
Title IX mandates;
unionization; and
consideration of athletes as employees, among other issues.

For those unable to attend, this program can be viewed at hamilton.edu/collegesportsfuture.

Common Ground events are free and open to the public.