Collegiate Football Industry: A Case Study

College football has dramatically changed how viewers watch the sport. It all started with transforming rugby into american football, which made a huge impact on today’s society. With the rules having a huge change from 1880 to the 2016 (Watterson John Sayle). Football has increased the amount of views because how popular it has become to the audience since the 1890s (Gridiron Football). Football has changed dramatically since the beginning of the game.

Collegiate athletics is a multibillion dollar business. Competition across basketball, football, and other popular sports generate just as much money as they do excitement and entertainment to sports fans and the casual viewer. The driving force behind this behemoth are the athletes that don the uniform of the competing universities. These athletes, the most of which are black, dedicated time synonymous to working a full time job on top of being student in order to serve this money machine. What is so damning about this system then? The truth is that the student-athletes do not see a penny of the millions they earn for their schools. On top of that, they are stretched beyond reasonable means in order to serve their athletic program. In return, they are compensated with scholarships to attend the college. However, what might seem like a coveted opportunity is not what it seems.

Each season college students and fans support their sports team in hopes of a National Championship Title. They purchase season tickets, team clothing, and expensive sports packages from television providers in order to watch their team from afar. This generates a lot of cash for universities and retailers.

While growing up in the state of Texas I was introduced to National Football League (NFL) at a very young age. Not only was I obsessed with great players like Emmitt Smith and Michael Irving, I had a more finical appreciation for the lucrativeness associated with the NFL. My young adulthood as well as my teenage years was spent playing and learning football with the aspirations of hopefully making it to the NFL. Unfortunately, my playing days ended with tryouts at Texas Tech University, but my love for the game has remained stagnant over the years even till this day. The NFL today is Americas most watched sports league and has taken the crown as the most lucrative and unique economic force in sports. Forbes offered approximations stating that on average, the NFL generates more than $6-9 billion a year in revenues alone. A third of the individual franchises in the league were appraised at over more than $1 billion while the other franchises average nine figures or higher. The NFL as an organization generates its revenues through a multitude of ways ranging from huge television contracts, in-stadium ticket sales, advertising ads paid for by sponsors and merchandise. Their business model unlike most other leagues, is centered on a hard salary cap on player contracts which provides cost certainty with its sponsors. In this paper, I will examine the economic and historical narrative associated with the growth of the NFL’s

During the early 20th century college football played a bad role and influence on American culture by diminishing a good college education. I oppose the role that college football had on American culture because it took away from the main purpose of going to college, which was getting a good education for most Americans. Since the US was involved in World War 1, many veterans came back to the US with no jobs. College coaches were exploiting veterans by concentrating on making their team better rather than wanting them to focus on an education, so that they could get a good job in the future.

Due to National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) rules and regulations no college athlete is able to receive any compensation or endorsement while participating in college athletics. These rules have long been challenged, however, the NCAA does not make any changes. With universities grossing close to $200 million a year, college athletics has turned into one of the top industries in the world. The NCAA, a governing body of college athletics, currently holds all power in college athletics. Without people questioning the NCAA and demanding changes to the monopoly that the NCAA holds nothing will happen to the unfairness to college athletes in college sports today. College athletes deserve to receive compensation in some way for the

College athletes do not get any revenue from the earnings of a scheduled game. “The NCAA admits that a "full scholarship" does not cover the necessities for a student-athlete”(College Athletes Should Receive a Scholarship Raise to Cover Necessities). The fact that college athletes don’t receive any revenue that the school makes from gates, concessions, parking or even the general admission for the game is outrageous. “Many people have an aversion to paying college athletes for their services, but an examination of various

Athletic programs in college have grown tremendously since they first began years ago, and now some believe that collegiate athletics have no place in higher education. Contrary to this, if one takes a closer look they see that college athletics do play a valuable role in higher education and should continue to play a part in the college experience. Students who participate in college athletics help carry out their school’s traditions, and by competing at such a high level they have the chance to put their school on the map. While competing, these people handle the load of a full-time college student and learn to be responsible and reliable. Some see college athletics as just a business, but truly they provide an opportunity for young adults to compete in the sport that they love, while getting an education and learning lessons that will last a lifetime.

Some might argue that the schools make so much money of them because the players technically make up the team. "The NCAA, as a whole, makes $6 billion annually... players themselves don 't see any of that money, even as they risk career-ending injuries every time that they step onto the court, field or rink." Yes, of course the school has to make money to pay for the jobs and expensive that come with being on a division I team. Many of the big football schools like Alabama, make extensive amounts of revenue off their football team and that attributes to other events on campus. The football player 's athletic ability

The college football market is an inelastic market. It seems that no matter how high prices get for tickets or how high prices get to just wear their logo on their clothes, people will always pay the price. Although there are different ways to buy tickets or clothes, the market is still inelastic. Consumers want to be able to buy things for cheaper so they will look at different ways to purchase the tickets or merchandise. Even though they might not purchase these things through the program, the program is still the original supplier of these goods.

Tailgating, costumes, rivalries, and spirit are all fun, yet important, aspects to college sports fans. College athletics is a multi-million dollar making industry because it keeps people wanting more. These college students have devoted their time and energy at a young age to do something they love at the next level. Like any college student, they work hard and take time on their college classes. Although they are claimed to be just students, they are required to miss class for televised games that bring in revenue to the school.

Generating profits from athletics is what drives a universities’ ability to keep their programs thriving. Football and basketball programs are one of the top money making sports in the United States. From the NCAA “college athletics as a whole pulls in about $12 billion annually,” (Gerencer). This revenue comes from ticket and merchandise sales, along with TV and marketing. The average annual revenue from a Division I football program is around $56 million and men’s basketball is around $23 million. These two college sports bring in the majority of the revenue while numerous others bring in the remainder.

The “contradiction at the heart of big-time college football,” as Michael Oriard describes it, is the competing demands of marketing and education. The 1890s proved to university administrators that there was an enormous market for collegiate football, which postulated opportunities for university building. Since this ubiquitous realization, there has coincided this blatant, yet unchanging contradiction that academic institutions are permitted to profit off of the services provided by its student-athletes while the athletes must idly accept that they are amateurs, donating their efforts to their respective schools. The schools then direct this revenue toward strengthening their athletic departments, and thus continues this seemingly endless growth of big-time college sports, all while athletes remain uncompensated and academics continue to take a backseat.

The National Football League has an mixed market strategy because the NFL wants to attract the most fans and viewers to watch our sporting events from all geographic, sociodemographic and behavioral characteristics but each are targeted in different ways. The members for each market are homogeneous with respect to geographic since a member of a market can watch his or her favorite team anywhere online or television broadcast. There are numerous teams that are located across the United States so members of the target group can attend games anywhere. As for the sociodemographic aspect, the market is heterogeneous since the National Football League mass markets to all ages, ethnic backgrounds, gender, and lifecycles. The NFL does not target just one market alone, but run a campaign to attract more members to that sociodemographic based on reports gathered. The behavioral characteristics of the members of each of the markets are collected and analyzed to best create a market strategy at the time. The NFL as of now is geographically dominated by the United States meaning most of their viewers are from the United States. However, the NFL is looking to begin targeting all around the world. The NFL already has three games a year being played in London and in the upcoming years the NFL will look to play games in Mexico and China. As of now, the NFL only trails the National Basketball Association (NBA) and U.K soccer leagues when trying to attract fans outside of its’ home markets.

While the Sandusky tragedy at Penn State has cost the university untold millions, the Nittany nation is light years from being financially destitute. Last June, the U.S. Department of Education reported that Penn State football finished with a revenues-over-expenses figure of $36,158,596. All that comes before a Big Ten per-school annual payout of $32.4 million. Best of all, those numbers will inflate greatly when their negotiated contract with Fox and Disney kicks in during the 2018 season to the tune of an additional $65 million. That longtime free parking perk