If you’re tired of hearing college coaches and athletic directors stumbling over themselves to repeat the same tired, NCAA-issued lines about maintaining the “integrity” of college sports, you’re in luck. Starting at 7 p.m., the college sports model will be put under a microscope, as Deadspin friend/contributor Andy Schwarz and Joe Nocera, a Bloomberg columnist who wrote the book on the NCAA’s slimy history, debate former Maryland men’s basketball player Len Elmore and Christine Brennan, a hack columnist for USA Today, on the matter of the NCAA’s amateurism model. You can watch the debate via the below stream, provided by show-runner Intelligence Squared.
Elmore and Brennan will be on the pro-amateurism side, arguing that paying athletes would somehow sully the great tradition of college sports. Schwarz and Nocera will be taking up for athlete compensation and the refiguring of the NCAA. We’ll be on-scene covering the debate, and will chat up the debaters with any questions that may not be covered during the hourlong show.
Full disclosure: As made obvious by our Death To The NCAA tag, this site obviously backs the anti-amateurism side. Enjoy the debate!