The modern era of college sports didn’t start with NIL.

Long before athletes could profit from their name, image, and likeness, a landmark Supreme Court case reshaped the foundation of college athletics. In 1984, NCAA vs. Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma challenged the NCAA’s control over college football television rights—and changed the power structure of college sports forever.

In the first episode of uNILateral Decisions, host Dominic Shelden is joined by former college athletics administrators Joe Nickell and Mike Walsh, along with sports law expert and professor Sam Ehrlich, to explore the origins of today’s chaos in collegiate athletics.

Before we can break down NIL disputes, eligibility lawsuits, or the growing professionalization of college athletes, we have to start with the moment that set everything in motion.

How did we get here?

This episode examines the case that cracked the NCAA’s control—and opened the door to the modern college sports landscape.