Michael HornCo-founder and Chairman, Christensen Institute

Athletics Departments Have Become ‘Shadow Universities’

18 Jun 2026 · 1 min

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1:05

In this opening segment, the speaker argues that college athletics departments—particularly at the Division I level—have evolved into quasi‑independent entities that function like “shadow universities.” Drawing on observations from the Eastern ACUBO (EACUBO) conference, the speaker notes the rise of dedicated athletics chief financial officers (CFOs) and the establishment of academic and student‑affairs units embedded within athletics departments. This structural separation gives athletics a distinct financial and administrative footprint separate from the main university, a phenomenon the speaker suggests also appears, though differently, at the Division III level.

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I happen to really love college sports, but even if you're not a college sports fan, the fact that these athletics departments, and we'll talk about Division I first and then Division III, but that these athletic departments have essentially become their own shadow universities. And when I really saw that was last year, I got invited up to the EACUBO, so the Eastern ACUBO. So these are financial officers in the Eastern region. Of the United States. They're members of the National Association of College Business Officers, and they had a whole track just on college athletics. There's CFOs now, not of the entire university, but just the athletics department now at many of these Division I institutions. We know we have a whole academic and student affairs group that sits within athletics now. So in many ways, they become an entire shadow university that sits off to the side here in college. In colleges and universities. So I think that's the first thing we should think about at the Division I level.