Created 45 years ago during the height of the Cold War, the Sports Act needs to be updated. It’s hard to conclude otherwise after reading the final report of the Commission on the U.S. Olympics and Paralympics. From unchecked athlete abuse to declining youth sports participation rates, our sport system has been shaped by fundamental flaws in the design of the Sports Act. How should the Sport Act be reshaped so the Olympic & Paralympic movements serve the public interest?

The national conversation around NCAA reform has centered on two parties: revenue-producing athletes and the universities they play for. But big-time college sport is not an island. It sits on top of and influences the shape of a much larger ecosystem, youth and school sports, which has been transformed over the past generation by the chase for scholarships, preferential admission slots for recruited athletes, and now NIL opportunities. So how to get the new model right? How to reform college sports in the public interest?

Sports both reflect and shape our society. Journalism unpacks those relationships, along the way making the games that we play more interesting and relevant. The New York Times, HBO Real Sports, and Los Angeles Times helped set the standard. Now, each outlet is changing how it covers sports – and Real Sports ended after 29 award-winning years. What happened? And what does the future hold for enterprise and investigative journalism in sports? Could the public get less, or more, coverage of important topics as the media landscape evolves? What are the most promising business models to support this work? And what do we lose if longform sports journalism gets deprioritized in a streaming world?

Race-based preferences during college admissions are gone, jettisoned by the Supreme Court. Now universities are under pressure to drop favorable treatment for donors and children of alumni. But what about recruited athletes, whose admission advantage far outstrips any of the above categories of student? At Harvard, for instance, the chances of getting in move from less than 1% to 86% if coveted by a coach. Can special admissions for recruited athletes be preserved? Should they? Our panels explore the societal implications of preferred treatment of athletes, from the contributions they make to campus life to the downstream reshaping of the youth sports industry, and considers: What treatment makes sense now?

At the Super Bowl, the NFL honored the 25 medical personnel who saved the life of Damar Hamlin. Many high school athletes are lucky to have even one athletic trainer on site during games and practices. What if Hamlin’s survival served as a catalyst to get every high school athlete access to an athletic trainer? And, where that’s not possible due to financial or personnel reasons, what other options exist to save lives and care for young athletes’ health?

The future of sports is dimmer without soccer journalist Grant Wahl, who died last week at age 49 while covering the FIFA men’s World Cup. But there are lessons from his work and life that anyone can take forward to build a better world. On Thursday, Dec. 15 (12-1 pm ET), we distill them and take measure of the legacy of the trailblazing writer on soccer, sports journalism and countless lives he lifted along the way.

What if coaches taught civic engagement to their athletes? What might that look like? What challenges exist to implement such an approach and how can they be overcome? And as eroding trust impacts the very foundation that American democratic institutions rely on to function, how might more civic-minded athletes benefit our polarized and politicized country? 

What if NBA clubs, like European clubs, took control of their talent pipeline down through age 16 or 14? How would such a scenario impact the array of stakeholders from leagues to high school sports to the athletes themselves?

What if college athletes were declared to be university employees? What would be the implications for athletes, for universities, and for the multibillion-dollar college sports industry that’s tied to higher education?

What if sports took radical action on the climate crisis? What role can sports play if more sports organizations and their stakeholders commit to the United Nation’s Sports for Climate Action Framework?

The women’s national team is the best in the world. The men’s national team has some of the best young talent in the world. Now imagine what’s possible if the players fully supported each other, while growing the game. What story can be told about U.S. Soccer by the 2026 World Cup?

Historically, positions of leadership and power in professional sports and organized sports in general have been occupied by men. What if pro sports were owned, designed and run by women? How might the experiences – the competition formats, the way athletes are treated, the storytelling themes that get elevated, and the cultural conversation around the value of sports – change or stay the same ?

What if Congress adopted the College Athletes Bill of Rights, or some elements of the proposal? What would that mean for the participants and the games that fans love to watch?

What if Congress developed a national solution to the college athlete debate? Speakers included: Mark Emmert, NCAA president; Mark Walker, North Carolina congressman; and Ramogi Huma, National College Players Association executive director.

What if the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee focused first and foremost on the safety and well-being of athletes while also growing opportunities for all, not just those with medal potential? Speakers included USOC CEO Sarah Hirshland and 7-time Olympic gymnastics medalist Shannon Miller.