College athletics is facing a pivotal moment as stakeholders debate how best to regulate the rapidly evolving landscape of collegiate sports. Jay Hartzell, president of Southern Methodist University (SMU) and former president of the University of Texas at Austin, argues that greater regulatory oversight is necessary to ensure competitive balance, opportunity, and long-term sustainability across college sports.

Hartzell draws on his unique perspective leading both a football powerhouse now competing in the Southeastern Conference and a mid-tier Power Four institution. He contends that while competition typically benefits from fewer restrictions, the nature of college sports requires a more balanced approach than professional leagues. According to Hartzell, unrestricted financial competition disproportionately benefits large, resource-rich programs and undermines parity, much like the disparities observed in Major League Baseball (MLB).

Comparing the dynamics of professional sports, Hartzell highlights the contrast between MLB, which operates with looser financial regulations and wider differences in team payrolls, and the National Football League (NFL), which enforces tighter spending controls and revenue sharing. Over the past two decades, no MLB team with one of the league’s lowest payrolls has won the World Series, whereas 40% of Super Bowl champions fell within the NFL’s bottom payroll tier. These distinctions, Hartzell suggests, also contribute to significant differences in competitive balance and media revenues, with NFL revenues growing at roughly twice the rate of MLB since the 1980s.

However, Hartzell emphasizes that college sports differ fundamentally from professional leagues because they are embedded within higher education institutions rather than profit-driven franchises. The financial success of athletic programs can directly affect the educational mission of universities, influencing resources and opportunities beyond the playing field. He suggests that unchecked disparities harm smaller programs, forcing them to choose between reduced investment in athletics or cutting funding for non-revenue sports and academic programs, which ultimately affects a broad base of student-athletes and the universities they represent.

The ongoing debate centers on the bipartisan Protect College Sports Act of 2026, introduced by Senators Maria Cantwell and Ted Cruz, which aims to address these issues through enhanced regulation. Hartzell notes resistance from leading athletic programs, analogous to MLB’s large-market teams, which seek to maintain their competitive advantages derived from larger donor bases, ticket sales, and media contracts.

Advocating for a regulatory framework that promotes a more level playing field, Hartzell argues this would yield closer competitions, stronger fan engagement, and a more sustainable financial model. Ultimately, such reforms would expand opportunities for student-athletes across all sports and reinforce the educational mission of colleges, differentiating college athletics from professional sports while safeguarding its unique role in higher education.