I am not sure how "limited" these colleges are under the current
tax laws. There are several examples out there (none in the US) where a particular sports club was affiliated with a university and then eventually decided to spin off the athletic department (for a lack of a better term) into its own independent entity. In the South American examples the new professional club decided to keep the university's name as its club name. In the New Zealand and European examples, the university became the primary sponsor of the new professional club. I think there might even be 1 Aussie example out there too. Although in that example the university is a secondary sponsor so I am not entirely sure about the relationship with the club.
It may be possible for something similar to happen in the US. If they became independent organizations, then they could enter into lease agreements with the school to continue using the athletic facilities and the schools could retain primary sponsorship (assuming the new organization doesn't adopt the school's name and/or nickname as its name). FWIW BYU's men's soccer is currently professional and participates in one of the lower tier leagues. So if nothing else the schools could follow that model.
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In response to this post by daveinop)
Posted: 04/05/2017 at 5:25PM