Bookshelf

Alumni and faculty members who would like to have their books considered for this listing should contact Stacey Himmelberger, editor of Hamilton magazine. This list, which dates back to 2018, is updated periodically with books appearing alphabetically on the date of entry.

Road to the Final Hour: The Catastrophic Tax Consequences of the Professionalization of College Sports by Thomas A. McGovern ’01

March 20, 2025

Tags Alumni Book

(self-published, 2025)

The author draws on his financial and tax background to provide a survey into the growing monetization of today’s college athletics. He outlines what he calls the “brutal outcomes” of college sports becoming professionalized, including the loss of billions of dollars in tax breaks and foregone revenue that would permanently alter the student-athlete experience. “Massive cuts to the size, number, and quality of non-revenue sports will consequently rob thousands of students of scholarship opportunities and deny higher education to many in the college-enrolling population,” he adds.

McGovern, a CPA who holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation, covers labor issues such as the classification of college athletes as employees, Unrelated Business Taxable Income (UBTI), the impact of losing tax-exempt status, and the ideological battle over the value of college sports in society. He champions a nonprofessional model that maintains “Name, Image, Likeness” compensation and allows for responsible regulation of the various facets of college athletics through an empowered NCAA.