Saturday Millionaires: How Winning Football Builds Winning Colleges

by Kristi Dosh

Last year Football Bowl Subdivision college football programs produced over $1 billion in net revenue. Record-breaking television contracts were announced.  Despite the enormous revenue, college football is in upheaval. Schools are accused of throwing their academic mission aside to fund their football teams. The media and fans are beating the drum for athletes to be paid. And the conferences are being radically revised as schools search for TV money. Saturday Millionaires shows that schools are right to fund their football teams first; that athletes will never be paid like employees; how the media skews the financial facts; and why the TV deals are so important. It follows the money to the heart of college football and shows the real game being played, covering such areas as:
 

Myth #1: All Athletic Departments Are Created Equal
Myth #2: Supporting Football Means Degrading Academics
Myth #3: College Football Players Could Be Paid Like Employees
Myth #4: Football Coaches Are Overpaid
Myth #5: A Playoff Will Bring Equality to College Football
Myth #6: Only A Handful of Athletic Departments are Self-Sustaining

Genres: Sports, Nonfiction, Football

288 pages, Hardcover

First published July 31, 2013

Reviews

[Adam Gray · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kind of dry, but a decent read

[Fredrick Danysh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Saturday Millionaires is a well written look at the economics of college sports, especially football, in an effort to justify the monies spent by the institutions of higher learning. I felt that it was slightly biased in favor of college sports. It would have been helpful and more accurate if the author would have addressed how the athletic programs are functioning as training grounds for professional sports and how many athletes leave college before obtaining degrees for large salaries without reimbursing the schools for what essentially amounted to a paid one to three year training camp. Another area of concern that was not addressed was the idea that athletes are special and can do no wrong. This was a free review copy from Turner Publishing.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a relatively short book that packs a ton of information about the economics of college athletics (particularly football) into its eight chapters. The authors dispels several myths about the financials of major athletic programs and shows how nuanced the reporting of revenue and athletic budgets can be. The chapters on the economics behind conference realignment were some of the most interesting (and at times the toughest to follow). The author concludes the book with several reasons why athletics are a "good" thing for universities as a whole primarily because of the visibility they provide universities. A good read for people interested in either college athletics or university politics.

[Eric Thelen · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you're interested in the business of college athletics (particularly football), this is an interesting read. This book gives you great insight behind the scenes of major DI universities. The writing however is a little matter of fact and dry.

[Scott Allen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent!! At times can be dense reading for a short book, but worth the read. Dosh does a great job of putting research and numbers to several of the arguments you hear on a university campus between academics and athletics.

[Jbussen · Rating 1 out of 5]

Nothing to read here. If you pay any attention to this subject anyway. Good for the layperson. Not for me. I knew all of this already. Don't read if your a cynic. It will give you plenty of ammo.

[Jbussen · Rating 1 out of 5]

Meh. I knew all this as common sense. Not very stimulating. I got bored. I got about half through and lost interest.