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The Big Business of College Football

The highest paid public employee in Utah—not to mention 31 other states—is a college football coach. For the journalist Gilbert Gaul, that fact is perfect evidence of the financial powerhouse that is college pigskin. In a new book, Gaul investigates how college football programs became “giant entertainment businesses that happen to do a little education on the side.” He joins us Tuesday. We’ll also talk to the sports economist David Berri about how student athletes are affected by all of this.

GUESTS

  • Gilbert Gaul is a two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist. He worked as an investigative journalist for The Washington Post, Philadelphia Inquirer, and other news outlets for more than 35 years. His new book is called Billion-Dollar Ball: A Journey Through the Big-Money Culture of College Football [Amazon|Indiebound].
  • David Berri is a professor of economics at Southern Utah University. He is the lead author of The Wages of Wins and Stumbling on Wins [Amazon|Indiebound]. He serves on the editorial board of both Journal of Sports Economics and the International Journal of Sport Finance.
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.
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