The End of Amateurism: Title IX Challenges In The New Ere of College Athletics

Author

• Georgia G. KemmettFollow

Date of Award

Spring 5-9-2026

Document Type

Undergraduate Thesis

Department

Integrated Marketing Communication

First Advisor

Charlie Mitchell

Second Advisor

William Berry

Third Advisor

Andrea Hickerson

Relational Format

Disertation/Thesis

Abstract

This thesis examines whether emerging revenue-sharing models in intercollegiate athletics following the House v. NCAA settlement can be reconciled with Title IX’s mandate of sex-based equity. While antitrust law has accelerated the collapse of NCAA amateurism by dismantling restrictions on athlete compensation, the resulting revenue-sharing framework risks concentrating financial benefits in male-dominated sports, particularly football and men’s basketball, thereby raising significant legal and policy concerns under federal civil rights law.

Through analysis of Title IX doctrine, antitrust jurisprudence, OCR guidance, NIL regulation, congressional reform proposals, and emerging litigation involving gender identity and athlete eligibility, this thesis argues that commercialization and gender equity need not be mutually exclusive. The central doctrinal question is whether revenue-sharing payments should be classified as “athletic financial assistance” subject to proportionality requirements under Title IX, or as compensation that nonetheless may remain subject to Title IX’s broader treatment and benefits provisions. In either case, the thesis contends that compensation structures administered through federally funded educational programs cannot escape nondiscrimination obligations merely through reclassification as wages.

The thesis further argues that post-House governance creates regulatory fragmentation by placing market-based compensation rules, athletic governance systems, and federal civil rights obligations in potential conflict. Left unresolved, that conflict may expose institutions to litigation, destabilize Title IX compliance, and permit commercialization to reproduce structural inequities in educational athletics.

In response, this thesis proposes hybrid compliance models that preserve limited market-based compensation while embedding baseline proportional equity safeguards, transparency requirements, and clearer regulatory guidance. Such models, it argues, offer a means of reconciling antitrust freedom with Title IX’s foundational commitment to equality. Ultimately, the post-House era presents not merely an economic transition but a defining test of whether American higher education can sustain both commercialization and equal protection within the same athletic framework.

Recommended Citation

Kemmett, Georgia G., "The End of Amateurism: Title IX Challenges In The New Ere of College Athletics" (2026). Honors Theses. 3530.
https://egrove.olemiss.edu/hon_thesis/3530

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