Notre Dame Fighting Irish

Notre Dame president wary of 'semipro' model for college athletics

Published Sep. 10, 2015 6:33 p.m. ET

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In a long story published by the New York Times on Thursday, Notre Dame President Rev. John I. Jenkins warned about the potential results of college athletes being able to make any amount of money off their playing ability.

"If you go that semipro route, we'll see," Jenkins told the Times. "But I'm just not sure that we'll not end up just a second-tier, uninteresting pro league."

He also echoed sentiments shared in the past by Big Ten commissioner Jim Delaney about potentially preferring to back away from scholarship athletics if forced to pay market value for players' services and expressed faith de-emphasizing major sports like football and basketball would not affect the university's financial bottom line.

"Would someone who was going to give a gift to Notre Dame for a chair in philosophy or physics not give it if we did without football?" Jenkins said. "I don't think so."

The administrator also indicated if the school were forced to share profits from jersey sales with the player whose number was on the back, the school would prefer to suspend the practice of jersey sales instead. 

However, he acknowledged a world in which players are allowed to profit off their likenesses -- sell autograph or do endorsements, for example -- "seems to be where we're going" and expressed no issue with it as long as such activities were independent of the school.

To read the full story, click here.

(h/t The New York Times)

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