Varsity Green: A Behind the Scenes Look at Culture and Corruption in College Athletics [Hardcover]

Mark Yost (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 3, 2009

In Varsity Green, Mark Yost cuts through clichés and common misconceptions to take a hard-eyed look at the current state of college athletics. He takes readers behind the scenes of the conspicuous and high-revenue business of college sports in order to dissect the enormous television revenues, merchandising rights, bowl game payoffs, sneaker contracts, and endorsement deals that often pay state university coaches more than the college president, or even the governor.

Money in college sports is nothing new. But readers will be amazed at the alarming depth and breadth of influence, both financial and otherwise, that college sports has within our culture. Readers will learn how academic institutions capitalize on the success of their athletic programs, and what role sports-based revenues play across campus, from the training room to the science lab. Yost pays particular attention to the climate that big-money athletics has created over the past decade, as both the NCAA's March Madness and the Bowl Championship Series have become multi-billion dollar businesses. This analysis goes well beyond campus, showing how the corrupting influences that drive college athletics today have affected every aspect of youth sports, and have seeped into our communities in ways that we would not otherwise suspect.

This book is not only for the players, policymakers, and other insiders who are affected by the changing economics of college athletics; it is a must-read for any sports fan who engages with the NCAA and deserves to see the business behind the game.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

According to veteran sports-business journalist Yost, there never was a "golden era" of college sports, when gentlemen scholars learned sportsmanship and teamwork; rather, sports have always been a means for colleges to earn money, power, and esteem, too often resulting in illiterate college athletes and corrupt athletic programs. The difference today is the scale: the Rose Bowl, though no longer the highest earning bowl game, generates more than $570 million for the Southern California economy; Nike pays millions in multiyear contracts with universities including Florida State, Michigan, North Carolina, and Illinois; and of the kids who devote their life to a particular sport, less than two percent will have a meaningful professional career. Yost reveals college sports as little more than a "machine that churns out kids for America's elite basketball, football, and hockey leagues," sacrificing young people's futures for big money and bragging rights. At times, Yost seems unsure whether to play the worldly reporter or the wide-eyed innocent, but his report is mostly thorough and largely well-written; conspicuously left out, however, are. the voices of the athletes themselves. Still, this intelligent critique of the U.S. college athletics makes a captivating examination of America's infatuation with money, celebrity, and sports.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

"According to veteran sports-business journalist Yost, there never was a 'golden era' of college sports, when gentlemen scholars learned sportsmanship and teamwork; rather, sports have always been a means for colleges to earn money, power, and esteem, too often resulting in illiterate college athletes and corrupt athletic programs. ...(T)his intelligent critique of the U.S. college athletics makes a captivating examination of America's infatuation with money, celebrity, and sports."—Publishers Weekly

"This provocative look at college athletics by sports and business journalist Yost is sure to start some conversations. In no uncertain terms, Yost accuses the NCAA of being morally bankrupt and exploiting poor, inner-city youth as chattel that feeds a protection racket lining the pockets of the rich and powerful. ...Yost's book focuses primarily on football but will appeal widely to anyone with an interest in high school or college athletics. Though clearly opinionated, it is an excellent primer on the business of college sports."—Library Journal

"The most informed, most dogged analyst of the finances of sports is clearly Mark Yost. Are the hand-wringing, issue-concerned administrators of college sports ready for him? He's ready for them." —Bob Boyles, co-author, The USA TODAY College Football Encyclopedia

"In Varsity Green, Mark Yost joins the voices outside the stadium or fieldhouse who decry the hypocrisy and corruption in college athletics, and in weaving together the many aspects and actors he demonstrates that the madness is not just confined to March."—Allen R. Sanderson, University of Chicago

"Mark Yost lays bare the sordid details of the corrupting influence big money has on college athletics and academic integrity at many of our institutions of higher learning. The writing is entertaining, the facts disturbing."—Dennis Coates, Department of Economics, UMBC

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 208 pages
• Publisher: Stanford Economics and Finance (December 3, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0804769699
• ISBN-13: 978-0804769693
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #135,942 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Mark Yost has worked in business and sports journalism for nearly 20 years. He began his career at the Dow Jones Newswire in New York and eventually became Detroit bureau chief, overseeing the wire service's automotive coverage. Yost also worked for the editorial page of The Wall Street Journal for five years, both in New York and Brussels. Today, Yost remains a regular contributor to the Journal's Leisure and Arts pages, where he writes primarily about the business and economics of sports, including NASCAR, the NFL, Major League Baseball, the World Series of Poker, and the Kentucky Derby. He has also written for the Travel pages of the New York Times, book reviews for the Philadelphia Inquirer, commentary for the American Spectator, and catalog copy for the J. Peterman Co.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The story behind March Madness, March 18, 2010

By 

S. McGee (New York, NY) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Varsity Green: A Behind the Scenes Look at Culture and Corruption in College Athletics (Hardcover)

We're all accustomed to hearing too many stories about badly behaving college athletes, many of whom might flunk a basic literacy test, and lavish college sports facilities. Even as many of us roll our eyes at these shenanigans and examples of misplaced priorities, we still tune in religiously to follow our favorite college teams -- a paradox that is at the heart of this intriguing book about the business of college sports.

I can easily see that nobody engaged in this world will be happy with what Mark Yost finds after he turns his keen eye on it. Those boosters who claim that the current system is a win-win, giving colleges great teams and youngsters a chance at an education, will be infuriated by Yost's damning indictment of an educational system that encourages young people to believe that they have a real shot at going pro via a college team (in fact, in a too-often repeated statistic, he notes that 3% of high school athletes will get a college scholarship; only 2% of those will have any kind of pro career) and then after coddling them and sheltering them from reality, abandons them to sink or swim when they tear a ligament and can't generate any revenue for the institution. On the other hand, those on the academic side will likely not enjoy Yost's even-handed analysis: he points out that a lot of the revenue from successful and profitable athletic teams actually helps subsidize academic programs and that so far, there is little proof that athletic donations are cannibalizing those to academic chairs and other programs.

This is an intriguing look behind the scenes at some of the top coaches, the top donors, the administrators and the boosters. Throughout it all, Yost makes clear his sympathy for those he sees as the biggest victims of what may be a gigantic hoax perpetrated by colleges in their own interest, at the expense of the 'student-athletes': that the latter are playing for the love of the game and the institution, even as the college profits from their labor.

I read this toward the beginning of the March Madness of 2010; I'll find it hard to look at that or any other collegiate sports program the same way again. Well-balanced, and well-researched, this is a great book to read for any sports fan, or even for someone curious about the extent to which elite athletes have become celebrities and what that means for our society. Yes, it's published by an academic press, but this is immensely readable, and highly recommended.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An interesting look at "amateur" college athletics, May 25, 2010

By 

Thomas Hagedorn - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Varsity Green: A Behind the Scenes Look at Culture and Corruption in College Athletics (Hardcover)

For anyone who has a love for college sports, this book is a must read. It confirms what we fans have suspected for years, that college football, basketball, and a few other sports (hockey, baseball) have been tainted by professionalism. In fact, it is really hard to call the players in these big revenue-producing sports "amateurs" and to think of them as "students."

I would have given the book 5 stars but for a few problems. On the positive side, Yost's writing style is engaging and well-paced. And the insight that he provides gives one the feel of being an insider in the business of college sports. Still, there are a few problems with the book. First, he relies quite a bit on other books, leaving me wishing that he had gotten more direct quotes from people in college athletics and related businesses. Perhaps they were reluctant to talk to him. Second, at times he repeats himself. The worst case of this is in the Epilogue, where he repeats a lot of material, for example, the discussion of the critic Nathan Tublitz and APR and GSR rates.

But my complaints aside, I found this book to be an easy, engaging read and I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in college athletics, higher education, and the uneasy relationship between the two.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Intriguing Book, May 2, 2010

By 

Bunny the Mule (Mississippi) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Varsity Green: A Behind the Scenes Look at Culture and Corruption in College Athletics (Hardcover)

I heard about this on NPR. Though I am not a sports fan, I found the discussion of economics to be quite interesting.