Charting a Course for the Future of the MEAC
By Kristi Dosh
Last Updated on March 13, 2023
In this episode, I’m joined by Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Commissioner Dr. Dennis E. Thomas to chat about the MEAC’s new partnership with Syracuse University and how his conference is approaching name, image and likeness for its student athletes.
Dr. Thomas is the third full-time commissioner of the conference and entered his 20th year this summer. He’s retiring in December, but he’s made some big moves for the conference ahead of his exit.
In this episode, we discussed:
- His approach to NIL at the conference level for MEAC student athletes
- What he thinks makes MEAC, and other HBCU, student athletes uniquely marketable
- How HBCUs will benefit from their student athletes landing NIL deals
- How the MEAC’s partnership with Syracuse came to be
- What he hopes MEAC student athletes, staff and professors will get out of the partnership with Syracuse
- How partnerships like this one and the SWAC’s with the Pac-12 can drive change
Brendan here on our BCS team wrote a great piece breaking down both the MEAC and the SWAC’s new partnerships and why they’re important and groundbreaking.
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Abridged Transcript
Transcript coming soon!
