Nigel Hayes spoke at the “Future of College Sports: Reimagining Athlete Pay” panel The Aspen Institute hosted in Washington D.C. Tuesday. Here, Hayes discussed the future of college athlete compensation alongside a panel of front office executives for different college programs.
But perhaps the biggest surprise of the night came partway through the conversation where Hayes recalled a specific instance in the 2016-17 season where he tried to organize a boycott of the Syracuse game in November. At the time, the game made big headlines as a statement 77–60 win for the Badgers, but the story would have been much bigger had the team sat out the primetime contest.