Michigan State President Lou Anna Simon is "eager to explore the possibility of providing students with NCAA-quality sports outside of the NCAA," according to Sharon Terlep of the WALL STREET JOURNAL. Simon said that the school is "working on a pilot program in which so-called 'club' sports at the school, like lacrosse and fencing, could be staffed by medical professionals, as is the practice for sports governed by the NCAA." Simon: "It’s an experiment." She added that such a program, if successful, could "give the school an idea of what athletics sans the NCAA could look like." MSU's 28 club sports "cost the school $990,000" in the '14-15 school year. By contrast, MSU's athletic department, which oversees 23 NCAA sports, had a $95.4M budget for '14-15. But club sports can "suffer from a lack of respect, and one reason is lack of required medical oversight." Changing that "could be a big step toward erasing the perception that club sports are far inferior to programs aligned with the NCAA." Simon has "been a big supporter of athletics including men’s basketball and football in her 10-year tenure at MSU." But for as much as she "values having Michigan State’s teams in the national spotlight, Simon, who spent last year heading the NCAA’s board of governors, ended the term frustrated with the organization’s insular nature and concerned about the future of the college sporting model" (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 9/26).
