Saturday Millionaires for the Classroom

Last Updated on September 4, 2021

BusinessofCollegeSports.com’s founder Kristi Dosh’s book on the business of college football, SATURDAY MILLIONAIRES, will provide an inside look at the inner-workings of college athletics in a way no other book has done.

SATURDAY MILLIONAIRES covers all of the business and financial aspects of college football from conference realignment to television contracts to the possibility of paying college athletes. It offers analysis of the latest trends along with historical perspective. It is the first book to share in-depth financial reports from university athletic departments and provided detailed analysis both at an institutional level and in the context of college athletics as a whole. It offers readers a window into the inner-workings of college athletic departments and the role football plays in those programs.

Early praise for SATURDAY MILLIONAIRES:

Kristi Dosh was the first sports business writer who wanted to learn how the actual financial side of a college athletics department works and how football drives (and spends) the revenues for an athletics program. Her legal training gives her great perspective explaining the impact of Title IX, television contracts, and pay-for-play with its tax implications for athletic departments. Kristi takes you into what Saturday football games really mean to universities across the country. – Ben Jay, Director of Athletics, University of Hawaii

What makes this book unique?

1. This is the first book to offer examples of actual athletic department financials and explain them in the context of the individual university and college athletics as a whole.

2. This book will have the latest analysis on conference realignment from a business and financial perspective.

3. This is the first book to tackle the legal and tax issues associated with paying college athletes.

Table of Contents:

Chapter 1 – Does Football Pay for Itself (Even if the School Pays for Football)? (A detailed analysis of college athletics finances and how reports are often misinterpreted and misunderstood)

Chapter 2 – Are Coaches Overpaid and Bowl Appearances Overrated? (A look at where all the money goes in a college athletics department)

Chapter 3 – Why Student Athletes Will Never Be Paid (From Title IX to nonprofit laws there are a number of issues that have to be resolved before student athletes can ever be paid above and beyond cost of attendance)

Chapter 4 – Conference Realignment (From Penn State’s move to the Big Ten in 1989 to all the moves made the past few years, this chapter is a thorough look at conference realignment over the years)

Chapter 5 – Why AQs Should Form Their Own Division (A look at how the divide between the AQs and non-AQs came to be and why it will never change, including the advent of the bowl system and how a program moves up to the FBS level)

Chapter 6 – Call Them What You Want, but There Will Always Be AQs (An examination of the antitrust issues with the BCS and whether the new College Football Playoff will face the same issues)

Chapter 7 – What Makes a Good AD? (The evolution of athletic directors from coaches to business professionals)

Chapter 8 – Why Notre Dame Grads Are Paying More for Cable So Indiana Grads Can Watch Their Team (From where it all began in 1984 with the landmark Supreme Court case removing television from the stronghold of the NCAA to the advent of conference networks, this chapter covers how television and college football have become intertwined)

Chapter 9 – What Has Football Done For Us? 8 Reasons Football Raises the University (A examination of all the research and results concerning the impact of college football on the rest of the university)

How this book enhances your course…

The public is becoming more and more interested in the financial side of college athletics, driven by football at the highest level. However, this is the first book that attempts to explain how an athletic department runs from a financial perspective. It encourages readers to let go of preconceived notions and biases and view athletic departments more objectively. Topics that inspire passionate debate are found throughout, including pay-for-play and conference realignment. Instead of focusing on the moral issue, the pay-for-play chapter delves into issues related to Title IX and non-profit laws. The conference realignment chapter covers each round of realignment dating all the way back to Penn State’s move to the Big Ten in 1989. It is updated through May 2013 with a complete timeline of all the moves and the rationale behind each one. The television chapter takes the reader from the landmark Supreme Court case in the early 1980s and moves through the advent of conference networks. There simply no other book on the market this up-to-date with this much coverage of the business side of college football.

For any professors choosing to use this book in a course, Kristi will provide additional materials to assist you, including PowerPoint presentations and handouts.

About the author:

Kristi Dosh is a sports business reporter/analyst for ESPN and appears on all ESPN platforms, including ESPN.com, ESPN The Magazine and ESPN radio and television. She is a licensed attorney and a frequent contributor to national magazines on a wide range of topics. She has two books due out in 2013, one on the business of college sports (Saturday Millionaires) and one on collective bargaining in Major League Baseball (Balancing Baseball). Kristi is also a frequent guest lecturer in graduate and law school programs and at student-athlete seminars. You can read her full bio here.

Want to adopt this book for a course?

SATURDAY MILLIONAIRES will be available September 10, 2013. However, if you’d like to use this book in a course this fall, we can get you an advanced copy to review. Pre-orders will begin shipping August 27, 2013 – plenty of time to get it into the hands of your students this fall!

If you’re interested in learning more about how this book can enhance your class, please fill out the contact information form below and we will contact you with more information:

If you have any trouble submitting with the form, or would rather submit via email, please click here to send an email to Kristi.