First published 2013
College football generates billions of dollars and fills stadiums with 100,000 fans every Saturday. The 2013 BCS National Championship between Notre Dame and Alabama drew 26.4 million viewers. Top coaches earn over $5 million annually while major programs operate on $80 million budgets. But this financial success masks troubling realities. Players work full time jobs without compensation while universities profit from television deals. Many athletes never graduate and leave with damaged bodies. Schools employ fixers to handle player misconduct and hostesses to attract recruits through seven figure slush funds. Despite massive revenues, 90 percent of athletic departments lose money as universities chase an expensive arms race that diverts resources from academics. Benedict gained rare access to major programs during the 2012 season, interviewing athletic directors, coaches, boosters, television personalities, recruits, and NCAA investigators. He reveals how this powerful machine operates from within, showing both the spectacle and the costs of big time college football.
Genres: business, politics, sports, non-fiction, academia, american-history
Vibes: emotional, fast-paced, thought-provoking
Tropes: corruption, investigative-journalism
Setting: Alabama, Notre Dame
Period: 2012, 2013
416 pages · Hardcover · Doubleday