Ohio State is in the process of revising websites and program materials to accurately reflect compliance with the law. While this work occurs, language referencing protected class status or other activities prohibited by Ohio Senate Bill 1 may still appear in some places. However, all programs and activities are being administered in compliance with federal and state law.

Kalman-Lamb and Silva argue: Cancel College Football

book cover
September 8, 2025
10:00 am - 11:30 am
Zoom Webinar

 
In this presentation, Nathan Kalman-Lamb and Derek Silva draw on their new book The End of College Football: On the Human Cost of an All-American Game to argue that one of the US' favorite pastimes is so saturated in harm and racialized exploitation as to be morally indefensible. Building on semi-structured interviews conducted with former big-time college football players, Kalman-Lamb and Silva suggest that economic and educational exploitation, human sacrifice, and plantation dynamics continue to define college football, even as it enters a new and putatively more just era. While unionization offers a potential pathway to mitigate these harms, ultimately, they argue, the sport must be abolished.
 
 
Nathan Kalman-Lamb is Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of New Brunswick where he teaches on social theory and sport. He is co-author of The End of College Football: On the Human Cost of an All-American Game (UNC Press, 2024) and author of Game Misconduct: Injury, Fandom, and the Business of Sport (Fernwood, 2018). His work has appeared in Los Angeles Times, The Guardian, The Nation, The New Republic, The Toronto Star, Globe and Mail, The Chronicle of Higher Education, The Daily Beast, Al Jazeera, and many other venues. He is co-host of The End of Sport podcast. He is on Bluesky @nkalamb.bsky.social and Twitter @nkalamb.
 
Derek Silva is Professor of Sociology at King’s University College at Western University. His research examines the intersection of sport, labour, inequality, exploitation and social control, with a focus on harm and violence in sport. In addition to his academic work, Silva is an active public writer whose work has appeared in TIME, The Guardian, Los Angeles Times, Al Jazeera, The Chronicle of Higher Education, The Daily Beast, Jacobin, Sportico, and more. He is also co-author of The End of College Football: On the Human Cost of an All-American Game and co-host of The End of Sport podcast.