Intelligence Squared U.S. Debates "Pay College Athletes" in NYC and Online, October 24

Last week, a congressional committee requested an official briefing on the FBI's college basketball corruption investigation. As the scandal continues to grow, some argue that college sports' "amateurism" rules prohibiting players from getting paid make bad behavior inevitable. Is it time to rewrite the rules and allow college athletes to earn their fair share? Or would providing monetary incentives spoil the sports? On Tuesday, October 24 Intelligence Squared U.S. will explore these questions in a live debate on the motion "Pay College Athletes." This marks the "fantastic" (New Yorker) intellectual debate series' latest foray into the sports world, following debates on "Hunters Conserve Wildlife" and "Ban College Football."

Columnist Joe Nocera and economist Andy Schwarz debate in favor of paying student athletes. Opposing them are USA Today sports writer Christine Brennan and basketball analyst and former NBA player Len Elmore.

The debate will be held at NYC's Kaufman Center and stream live online, then air soon after as part of the syndicated public radio show and podcast "Intelligence Squared U.S." On October 24, online viewers can tune in at IQ2US's website (http://smarturl.it/CollegeAthleteDebate).

WHAT: Intelligence Squared U.S. Debates "Pay College Athletes"
WHEN: Tuesday, October 24, 2017 / Reception 6:00-6:45 / Debate 7:00-8:30 PM
WHERE: Kaufman Center/129 W. 67th Street (bet. Broadway and Amsterdam)/New York, NY 10023
TICKETS: $40 ($12 for students w/ ID). To purchase, visit http://www.intelligencesquaredus.org/


Arguing for the motion:

* Joe Nocera: Columnist, Bloomberg View & Co-Author, "Indentured: The Inside Story of the Rebellion Against the NCAA"
Joe Nocera is a Bloomberg View columnist. He has written business columns for Esquire, GQ, and the New York Times, and is the former editorial director of Fortune. He is the co-author of Indentured: The Inside Story of the Rebellion Against the NCAA and the author of a number of books including, A Piece of the Action: How the Middle Class Joined the Money Class and Good Guys and Bad Guys: Behind the Scenes With the Saints and Scoundrels of American Business (and Everything in Between).

* Andy Schwarz: Economist & Partner, OSKR
Andy Schwarz is a partner at OSKR, an economic consulting firm specializing in expert witness testimony, where he focuses on antitrust and class actions across a wide variety of industries, including sports. Schwarz has testified to the U.S. House of Representatives’ Committee on Education and the Workforce and served on a U.S. Congressional panel on college sports. He is a frequent contributor to Vice Sports and Deadspin and has written for Slate, 538.com, Forbes.com and ESPN.com.


Arguing against the motion:

* Christine Brennan: Sports Columnist, USA Today
Christine Brennan is an award-winning national sports columnist for USA Today, a commentator for ABC News, CNN, PBS NewsHour and National Public Radio, and a best-selling author. Twice named one of the country's top 10 sports columnists by the Associated Press Sports Editors, she has covered the last 17 Olympic Games, summer and winter. Brennan was the first woman sports writer at The Miami Herald in 1981 and the first woman to cover Washington’s NFL team as a staff writer at The Washington Post in 1985. She was also the first president of the Association for Women in Sports Media.

* Len Elmore: Attorney & Former All-American Basketball Player
Leonard J. Elmore is an attorney and television basketball analyst. Elmore was an All-American basketball player at the University of Maryland, from 1971 to 1974. He played professional basketball for 10 years and was a first round draft pick in both the ABA and the NBA. Elmore received a J.D. from Harvard Law School in 1987, where he is believed to be the first and only National Basketball Association player to graduate from that institution upon retirement from his professional basketball career.

ABOUT INTELLIGENCE SQUARED U.S. DEBATES (IQ2US)
A non-partisan, non-profit organization, Intelligence Squared U.S. was founded in 2006 to address a fundamental problem in America: the extreme polarization of our nation and our politics. Their mission is to restore critical thinking, facts, reason, and civility to American public discourse. The award-winning debate series reaches over 30 million American households through multi-platform distribution, including radio, television, live streaming, podcasts, interactive digital content, and on-demand apps on Roku and Apple TV. With over 140 debates and counting, Intelligence Squared U.S. has encouraged the public to "think twice" on a wide range of provocative topics. Author and ABC News correspondent John Donvan has moderated IQ2US since 2008.

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