Final Four, football, fencing? College athlete salaries will deeply impact future US Olympic hopes [Video]

FILE – Northwestern’s Lauren Wadas, center, battles for a ball with Iowa’s Lokke Stribos, left, and Ciara Smith during a NCAA Big Ten Conference field hockey game, Friday, Oct. 29, 2021, at Grant Field in Iowa City, Iowa. At the Final Four this week, they’ll be playing for a trophy and the right to cut down nets.. Also at stake, Olympic gold medals. Every issue consuming college sports right now — NIL, potential player salaries, conference realignment, TV deals, the expansion of the football playoff and maybe the basketball tournament — will affect how the plethora of crew, gymnastics, wrestling and dozens of other Olympic sports teams do at the games for years to come. (Joseph Cress/Iowa City Press-Citizen via AP, File)