I would prefer an expansion of UBIT to include TV revenue

I think we often get distracted by the big business of sports at the Power 5 schools. Even there, its usually only 2 sometimes 3 sports at even those schools. We often forget that the overwhelming majority of student-athletes in the US are actually student-athletes. I would rather if there are taxation laws to target the big business aspect, it actually targets them and not the 95% of other sports at other schools that often lose money but enhance the student experience for the athletes that participate in them.

Most of these sports programs at lower level schools rely on fundraising just to keep the sport sustainable. At some institutions, coaches are required to fundraise to help cover the deficit the sport decides. I used to play in an annual softball tournament that a friend of a friend ran to help fund the D-3 basketball team he coached. Taxing all sports donations would put a substantial dent in their ability to do so.

I was actually surprised to learn that TV revenue is NOT currently considered UBIT (See linked article from the Tax Foundation). In 2021 , if you combined Power 5 schools and the NCAA, there was approx. $4.4B in untaxed revenue. Apparently the reasoning is that is considered "reproduction of an activity critical to the school's mission." That's weak sauce in my opinion.

The problem with schools and donations is not there's too many of them, its that they go to too few schools. I'd say about 90% donation gift money goes to the top 10% of schools that....quite frankly...don't need them. A school like Harvard can sneeze and get multi-million dollar donations to help their cold. The schools that truly need them, don't get them because its just not as impressive to your friends if you gave $100M to Wilkes University than if you gave it to Stanford.

Click here for link at https://taxfoundation.org/blog/college-sports-tax-free-reven