Each customer paid 25 cents to see the game." (Parks, Quarterman 46-47) Collegiate football became a lucrative form of entertainment, revenue, and recruitment for college programs. College basketball's history came later within the twentieth century. .
In 1938 and 1939 both the National Invitation Tournament (NIT) and the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) held tournaments at different venues where men's college basketball players could compete for dominance in determining who the "champion" college was, with the dominant basketball program which would lead to enticing future talent, and more potential dollars to the "winning" school. "By the 1980s, intercollegiate basketball was one of the favorite sports in the nation. The rapid growth of the National Basketball Association (NBA) led to an increased interest in intercollegiate basketball game and many NBA stars were recruited from college. The NBA grappled with the challenges of youthful talent and recently set an age limit that stopped players from joining a professional basketball team as soon as they left high school." ("NCAA NAIA Basketball") The National Football League (NFL) employs similar tactics as well- "Football players who have been out of high school for at least three years are eligible for the NFL draft. The rules do not state that a player must attend college, but virtually all of the players selected in the NFL draft played college football. A year as a "redshirt" player in college counts toward eligibility even though the player was not allowed to participate in games during that year. Therefore players who have completed their redshirt sophomore year can enter the NFL draft." (Ninomiya) .
So, an athletically gifted male player in either basketball or football, coming out of high school with aspirations of elevating his talent to the next level, must realistically try to focus on strengthening his academics as well if he chooses to try to increase his opportunities for exposure as the primary opportunity for getting noticed is at college.
