On November 19, USA Today published an investigative story, “Athletes guided toward ‘beating the system.’” The article was the cover story for the 2-day special report that examined whether athletes are clustering in majors in disproportionate numbers from the student body; the extent to which athletics advisers guide athletes into ‘easier majors’ for eligibility and/or…
The Hattiesburg American reported on November 18 that University of Southern Mississippi (USM) students would be charged $180 in fees for intercollegiate athletics as part of their semester tuition bill. According to the article, the fees helped to raise $5.4 million toward the $19.3 million athletic operating budget. An additional $1 million was provided from…
By MARC ISENBERG, Sports Business Journal The rights of college athletes are under attack – and, as usual, the “amateurs” lose to the business pros. Media companies and professional leagues and athletes have all benefited from the emergence of fantasy sports, whether directly through increased revenue and licensing agreements or indirectly through a more captivated…
The Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics met on October 27 to discuss the emerging conflict between new forms of media and long-standing NCAA rules designed to protect athletes from commercial exploitation. The Commission also announced it would pursue a year-long series of meetings and research on the economics of college sports, with a particular focus on why expenses are rising faster than revenues at virtually all Division I athletics programs.
By JOE DRAPE and THAYER EVANS, New York Times Nearly three years ago, the billionaire oilman T. Boone Pickens donated $165 million to Oklahoma State’s athletic department so it could remake its facilities into a Shangri-La for Cowboys sports, complete with an indoor practice center and new facilities for baseball, equestrian, soccer, tennis, and track…
By Steve Weiberg, USA Today
By Steve Wieberg, USA Today A faculty watchdog group sounded an alarm Tuesday over a $420,000 compensation package for a Kansas State assistant basketball coach, saying it represents a “new day” in the escalation of college coaches’ salaries. “Higher education should quickly rethink the merits of this professional athletics model,” the Coalition on Intercollegiate Athletics…
Knight Commission Poll Finds Americans Are Concerned About College Sports Professionalism in college sports, among topics at Washington, D.C. Summit (WASHINGTON, JAN. 30)– Americans are deeply concerned about the professionalization of college sports, according to a new poll conducted for the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics. Concerns about how the increasing pressure to win and…
The cover story in the Feb. 6 issue of USA Today tackles specific problems faced by female athletes–depression, eating disorders, and the pressure to lead “perfect lives.”
The Sports Economist has a summary of a scary story: life expectancy of NFL players.