Team USA was born on college campuses across America | Opinion

When we look back on the 2024 Summer Olympics, we can look back and recognize that we had the chance to see the best in the world compete at the highest level. The 2024 Olympics reminded us that the Olympic Games truly are the purest form of competition: for the love of country and the love of sport.

This competitive spirit is one that we are familiar with in the United States because it is similar to what we see in youth sports, high school sports, and especially in college sports. The Olympics also serve as a reminder of how important college sports are to the success of Team USA, and frankly, to many Olympians from outside the United States as well.

College athletics serves as a feeder program for U.S. Olympic teams, with 75 percent of Team USA having competed in college. The Olympic sports programs at universities from coast to coast help athletes hone their skills while training and competing against elite competition. In many cases, alumni return to their alma mater to train and receive coaching in preparation for the Olympics.

But many of these sports programs, which have produced some of the greatest Olympians of all time, may soon be a thing of the past if Congress does not step in and take action to preserve college sports.

The world of college athletics has undergone fundamental changes in recent years. While the recent House settlement offers a blueprint for the future, there are still problems that, if left unresolved, pose an existential threat to some college sports programs, particularly women’s and Olympic sports.

The risk of student-athletes being labeled as employees of their institutions is something that student-athletes largely reject, but it is a policy that, if implemented, could have a catastrophic impact on women’s and Olympic sports. Scholarships or benefits such as academic support, housing, food, and a host of other perks would now be taxable. There would likely be a transition from specialized healthcare to institutional employee healthcare, all of which are now provided tax-free to student-athletes. Not only would this potentially be detrimental to student-athletes, but it could also lead to athletic departments ceasing to support some women’s and Olympic sports due to new financial constraints that would arise from classifying student-athletes as employees.

For most institutions, football and men’s basketball are the two largest revenue-generating sports. This makes women’s and Olympic sports the most vulnerable to any budget cuts that might be necessary. If this were to happen, we would risk losing many of the college athletic programs that are responsible for training past, present, and especially future members of Team USA.

Additionally, competing state laws create confusion and disorganization among schools across all divisions of college sports, including schools that in some cases compete within the same conference. The new blueprint resulting from the recent settlement agreement provides a road map for Congress to follow that would help codify many of the positive changes we have seen in college athletics, and more importantly, secure opportunities for future student-athletes in women’s and Olympic sports.

Nothing unites Americans like cheering on the red, white, and blue on the world stage. Team USA has become the most powerful force in Olympic history, and a strong training field for our next generation of student-athletes is essential to that continued dominance. We need Congress to take the necessary steps to safeguard these college sports programs and ensure our Olympic pipeline remains strong so we can continue to hear our national anthem played at medal ceremonies for generations of Olympians to come.

Tommy Burleson was an All-American basketball player for North Carolina State University and the number three overall pick in the 1974 NBA draft. He was also a member of the 1972 U.S. Olympic basketball team.

The opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own.