What do the Global Economy and College Sports have in common?

It would be easy to answer with things like greed, corruption, and exploitation. Or you could say they’re both perfectly personified by Jason Isaacs in White Lotus high on anxiety pills, facing his own financial disaster, all while wearing his favorite Duke t-shirt. And yes, you’d be spot on. But I’d argue the more productive comparison is through the shared lack of foresight, attentiveness, and leadership that have landed these institutions in dire straits.

There is now a 60% chance of a global recession, a [trade] war between the two largest super powers is escalating, and global investors are actually losing trust and de-investing from the previous stalwart of the global system, the United States.

Not to be outdone, the governing body of college sports, the NCAA, has its own remarkably brilliant stream of recent catastrophes. In the past decade, the NCAA has been racking up legal defeats, decimating the standing of its amateurism model. The NCAA’s biggest money maker, college football, has been in an existential crisis, with no set guidelines around how athletes get paid or transfer schools. To be fair, there’s some guidance materializing following the $2.8 billion settlement between the NCAA and athletes, including allowing schools to formally share up to $20.5 million with their athletes. But of course, this is adding even more turbulence to the system with no set framework for enforcement, and a burgeoning reckoning for schools and entire conferences that don’t have the funds to play in this new environment.

Has this all come out of nowhere? Has Aaron Rodgers always been this annoying? No, this was a long crescendoing journey. For both the global economy and the NCAA, there were clear warning signs. In 1999, the infamous Battle in Seattle in my backyard showcased the populous’ angst and rage toward free trade systems. People voiced their anger with the system’s exploitation of workers and uneven concentration of power. Since then, there’s been consistent rhetoric from both liberals and conservatives pointed at the dangers and unfairness of the global economic system. Even though, importantly, also ignoring to highlight the rampant benefits of global free trade and the choices Americans have made that support this new world order, including preferring participating in service industries rather than manufacturing. This is all compounded by the rise of protectionism and nationalism throughout the world. Look no further than the United Kingdom’s Brexit endeavor, which is looking more and more like a blundering own goal. Even the current United States president had telegraphed his displeasure with trade for the past forty years and explicitly described his intentions on the campaign trail. Why would anyone be surprised to see him drop a grenade on the global economy like he did?

And in college sports, it’s been as painfully predictable as a Netflix rom-com. For decades there have been issues with athlete compensation and treatment. As college football evolved into a multi-billion-dollar business, there were loud complaints of athletes being exploited and all the power landing in the hands of the few and the rich. Sound familiar? The NCAA’s march toward destiny only sped up as athletes began joining class-action suits against the association. And even as athlete pay was materializing through new state legislation, the NCAA forfeited an opportunity to establish new reforms and instead opted to let things play out on their own.

In both systems, there was outcry for reform and a clear rising tide of anti-status quo sentiment. Unfortunately, in either case, it’s hard to make out any formidable response to these adversities. Such a lack of foresight and attentiveness usually points to a failure in leadership.

Shame on the democrats for not foreseeing a power grab of this magnitude and taking the opportunity while they had to dummy-proof our systems. Shame on the republicans for handing over their economic ideals to a minority of disreputable zealots. And shame on all of them for failing to productively address the real concerns around income inequality and economic opportunity. The NCAA, its board of governors, school presidents, and conference commissioners should feel even more embarrassed for their collective lack of action given that at the end of the day, we’re talking about collegiate sports in the United States. Collectively, they could have wrapped their arms around the problem with little interference. Collegiate sports are a trivial problem to solve compared to the challenge of keeping the global economy in place.

Scott Galloway recently said, “the definition of stupidity is hurting yourself while also hurting others.”

It’s remarkable to see leadership in both systems causing self-inflicted harm that not only damages the well-being of the patrons and consumers of the system, but also irreversibly damages the very institutions who have benefited from the system along with the actual system itself.

Both systems continue to mirror each other. We’re seeing a struggle for cohesive leadership, a deterioration in trust and respect for their governing bodies, and power players angling to broker their own side deals. And of course we’re now seeing self-preservation take priority.

As we sit on the couch and watch this all play out, we risk losing the quaint pleasures in life such as our love and enthusiasm for college sports, along with a few other small things like predictable global trade, national prosperity, and higher quality of life for future generations.