The M Connection: Media and Money
The M Connection: Media and Money
This chapter discusses how athletic budgets have spun out of control and created an athletic–academic divide that troubles observers both inside and outside the academy. Those who oversee college sports, from coaches to athletic directors to presidents, harbor a three-pronged motivation that prevents them from reversing the tide: (1) they want more money so they can spend more; (2) they need more money because their competition is getting more; and (3) they are caught in a spiral where they need money because they think it will enable them to win, and they need to win because they think success on the field is going to bring more money. Media exposure is one means to these ends. While the big money that flows into athletic departments from television provokes resentment from the academic side, those in athletics who bask in the limelight of an adored sport exude an attitude that is simultaneously cynical and realistic.
Keywords: American college sports, athletic budgets, television, media exposure, athletic departments
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