How would you remake college sports? See readers' answers. | Letters

The landscape of college sports has changed drastically in recent years, and President Donald Trump is among policymakers seeking to add new regulations in response. College teams are big time in Iowa. The Register Opinion section gave readers this prompt online: "If you could unilaterally set up new rules for college sports, what would they be?"

Below are a couple of responses.

Amateurism left a long time ago; let's start over

I would end the NCAA as we know it. College athletics are already professional sports in practice. Athletes now have the right to profit from their name, image and likeness — and to transfer freely, just like coaches.

It’s time to stop pretending athletics and education are meaningfully intertwined at the highest levels. Most athletes will go on to careers outside sports, but the most prominent programs operate largely independent of the institutions whose names they carry. Major athletic departments are funded primarily through television revenue and donations, not academics.

More: Why Kyle Green is the right choice for Northern Iowa basketball coach | Hines

The solution is to separate them formally. Spin off major athletic departments into for-profit entities that license university names — paying schools like Iowa and Iowa State for that association. Athletes could still pursue degrees, but education should be part of a compensation package, not the justification for the system itself.

This shift may offend traditionalists, but the idea of amateurism has been a fiction for decades — long before NIL and the transfer portal made it impossible to ignore.

Daniel Finney, Des Moines

No more gambling, and delay schooling

Make all the big ticket sports (football, basketball, hockey, softball, baseball) semi-pro. Let's just call it what it already is.

Treat college sports like the Peace Corps. School can be deferred after sports "service," with scholarships intact for all sports. I think the pressure for good grades while maintaining a college sports career hurts students, (both athletes and non-athletes), and academic advisers/instructors.

If a student is injured, the student keeps the scholarship money. We don't take away military pay for wounded soldiers. Same idea. The point of college is to educate people.

No online betting for college sports. Period. Ever.

Ramona Cunningham, Urbandale

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Saving college sports? What readers say should happen. | Letters