Commercializing Amateurism: The Rise of LLCs in College Athletics

Abstract

For more than a century, American universities justified intercollegiate athletics through the language of amateurism, presenting sport as an extension of education rather than a commercial enterprise. Yet contemporary college athletics, particularly the highest-resourced college athletics programs, operate in an environment defined by billion-dollar media contracts, multimillion-dollar coaching salaries, athlete compensation through name, image, and likeness agreements, and revenue-sharing arrangements following the House v. NCAA settlement. This article examines how universities are responding to these changes through the creation of athletics-affiliated limited liability corporations (LLCs). Using public communications from institutions including Clemson, Kentucky, Michigan State, Rutgers, Utah, and Virginia Tech, the article analyzes how universities explain and justify these new organizational structures. Drawing on organizational legitimacy theory, the analysis identifies four recurring themes: innovation, student-athlete support, competitiveness, and organizational separation. These themes position LLCs not as evidence of the professionalization of college sport, but as necessary adaptations that remain consistent with institutional values. The article argues that athletics LLCs function as both administrative mechanisms and rhetorical tools that help universities maintain legitimacy in an era when the moral authority of amateurism has eroded. More broadly, the rise of LLCs reveals changing cultural assumptions about athlete labor, commercialization, and the place of sport within higher education.