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Publications
It’s Time to Fix the American Sports Ecosystem
GGL co-director Victoria Jackson testified at the public hearing of the Commission on the State of the U.S. Olympics and Paralympics in 2023. Her testimony on the past, present, and future of the American sports ecosystem, which includes Olympic and Paralympic development, U.S. college sports, and grassroots/community sports set the stage and stakes for the daylong hearing on The Hill. Read Victoria’s testimony in the appendix of the Commission’s Final Report.
Runs in the Family
The multi-talented Great Game Lab fellow Sarah Spain (we at the Great Game Lab call her the heptathlete of sports media) is co-author of a forthcoming book with football coach Deland McCollough, Runs in the Family: An Incredible True Story of Football, Fatherhood, and Belonging, with Simon & Schuster. As the publisher states, “Based on Emmy and Peabody Award–winning sports journalist Sarah Spain’s viral article for ESPN, Runs in the Family is a staggering portrayal of parenthood—the choices we make, the sacrifices we endure, and the intentional nurturing that shapes us and our loved ones. It is a heartrending story that testifies to the profound impact of family, identity, and the enduring bonds formed through both blood and mentorship.”
Victoria Jackson Witness Statement, U.S. Congress testimony
GGL co-director Victoria Jackson testified during a 2024 hearing the U.S. House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Innovation, Data & Commerce on college sports proposed legislation. Her witness statement drew on her expertise as a historian to show Congress how and why the United States collegiate sport system developed over time in ways that are no longer sustainable, and could be optimized to better serve different athletes in different sports at different levels if colleges recognized that different sports industries with different missions are being operated under the umbrella of intercollegiate athletics. Read Victoria’s witness statement in the 118th Congressional record.
Choosing to Run: A Memoir
GGL Fellow, 2x Olympian, Sun Devil Hall of Famer, and Boston Marathon champion Des Linden is the author of a New York Times bestselling nonfiction book, Choosing to Run (Penguin Random House). Des, working with the equally impressive Bonnie D. Ford, opens each chapter with a play-by-play narrative, moving in chronological order, of her epic (and unexpected) 2018 Boston Marathon win, when she became the first American woman to win the race in thirty-three years. The body of each chapter then dives into her background, motivations, and active decision-making to keep on “showing up” and “choosing to run.” She’s also funny as hell. Des Linden’s Choosing to Run is a must-read
Want College Sports Reform? Start With Paying Power 5 Football Players
GGL co-director Victoria Jackson was invited to write a white paper with Arnold Ventures, a philanthropic foundation dedicated to improving the lives of all Americans through evidence-based policy solutions that maximize opportunity and minimize injustice. Victoria shows the historical and contemporary reasons behind why revenue sharing in college sports should first be introduced with Power 5 football players. (She wrote this policy paper in 2022, before the demise of the Pac-12 Conference.) She also uses her expertise as a humanist to anticipate and walk through the consequences for other constituent groups in college sports affected by the disruption of revenue sharing for P5 football players. Read Victoria’s Arnold Ventures white paper.