The colleges certainly enjoy the benefit of having potentially the next great phenom of the sport along with the lucrative benefits of having those athletes. Unfortunately, this arrangement is somewhat counterproductive in that it now a gifted athlete is taking a spot at the university in lieu of an academically oriented student.
The NCAA, the National Collegiate Athletic Association, governing body of big time college sports is caught in its own web of tangled contradictions; reconciling the legislation of a multi-billion dollar industry claiming it is really an amateur, non-profit activity. .
Some facts from an article written in 2000: (Eitzen).
1. The BCS Bowl Championship Series encompasses the major colleges for football- The eight year package which ended in 2006 was worth $930,000,000 with ABC. Each team playing in the BCS game receives $13,000,000 and will receive $17,000,000 in the final years of the agreement. Since schools involved divide payouts, each stands to earn about $116,000,000 annually.
2. The NCAA signed a $6,200,000,000, 11-year deal giving CBS the rights to televise the men's basketball championship; which it opted out of in favor of a $10,800,000,000 deal beginning in 2011. The NCAA also makes money from advertising and gate receipts. .
3. Universities sell sponsorship's to various enterprises for advertising. As an example the University of Colorado has a basketball arena the Coors Event Center, named for the $5,000,000 donation of the Coors Brewing Co.
4. Nine football coaches will be paid $1,000,000 in 2000, In 2010; millionaire college football coaches are almost commonplace. Star basketball coaches are paid handsomely as well, including John Calipari who signed a lucrative contract with University of Kentucky in 2009 for approximately $4 million dollars annually for eight years. (Rhoden).
5. An estimated $2,500,000,000 a year in college merchandise is sold under license, translating to about $100,000,000 to the schools in royalties.
