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The Big Business of High School Sports

Tribune file photo

Last year, Granite School District put an end to a wealthy benefactor’s significant financial support of and involvement with Cottonwood High School’s football program. A state audit later found widespread problems with how Utah’s high schools managed booster funds for their athletic programs. These and other revelations have shed some light on what surprisingly big business high school sports can be. Tuesday, we’re talking about what role sports should play in our kids’ education and what happens when that balance is tipped.

The Salt Lake Tribune recently released a series of articles about the controversy surrounding Cottonwood High School's derailed football program.

  • Lisa Schencker wrote an article about new rules set by Granite School District that hobbled Cottonwood's program.
  • Kyle Goon reported on the benefactor at the center of the dispute, Scott Cate.

GUESTS

  • Lisa Schencker reports on education and faith for the Salt Lake Tribune.
  • Kyle Goon covers sports for the Tribune.
  • Douglas Hartmann is a professor of sociology at the University of Minnesota, where he teaches classes on sports in society.
Doug Fabrizio has been reporting for KUER News since 1987, and became News Director in 1993. In 2001, he became host and executive producer of KUER's RadioWest, a one hour conversation/call-in show on KUER 90.1 in Salt Lake City. He has gained a reputation for his thoughtful style. He has interviewed everyone from Isabel Allende to the Dalai Lama, and from Madeleine Albright to Desmond Tutu. His interview skills landed him a spot as a guest host of the national NPR program, "Talk of the Nation." He has won numerous awards for his reporting and for his work with RadioWest and KUED's Utah NOW from such organizations as the Society of Professional Journalists, the Utah Broadcasters Association, the Public Radio News Directors Association and the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.