Armen Keteyian and John Talty have teamed up to write The Price: What It Takes to Win in College Football's Era of Chaos. Keteyian may be familiar to readers as an Emmy Award-winning journalist on HBO's Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel. Talty is the national college football writer for CBS Sports and 247Sports. Impressive credentials and it shows as they take readers through a turbulent few years in the extremely popular sport of college football. NIL (Name, Image, and Likeness), the Transfer Portal and conference realignment are all discussed in great detail in a manner that entertains and informs. I've been a fervent follower of football, professional, collegiate, and high school, since the 1960's and can't recall a sports book that taught me so much. I couldn't put it down.
Although well written, it's not a breezy read in parts. Some of the chapters include portions of legal briefs and transcripts from Congressional Hearings and NCAA sanctions against coaches such as Jim Harbaugh, formerly of Michigan. It wasn't legalese, but you couldn't wade through the text. Perhaps it's just a reflection on society as a whole that lawyers are an integral part of the modern world. That said, these sections of the book are important in weaving a story that's turned the student-athlete into an employee of the athletic-industrial complex.
Television networks and Power 4 conferences are in bed with each other. It's a hundreds of millions of dollars business. ESPN has the SEC and ACC. FOX has the Big 10 and Big 12. Don't forget NBC and CBS, too. Saturday afternoon college football programming dominates the airwaves. Since NIL became legal in July of 2021, players are getting a piece of the action. Endorsement deals and pay-for-play schemes offer collegiate athletes life changing money. Quarterbacks entering the transfer portal can fetch anywhere between a million and eight million dollars. Position players can receive $150,000 or more in the mega conferences. The days when the student-athlete only receives tuition, room, board, and a small stipend are long gone. At least in big time college football. Previously, deep pocketed boosters would grease the palms of prized recruits or even provide them with a car with a wink and a nod. Now it's right out in the open.
The book goes into great detail about the premier coaches of this era: Nick Saban, Jim Harbaugh and Kirby Smart. In addition, some of the also rans at the smaller school such as Arizona and Maryland are discussed with the difficulties of having their players poached in the transfer portal. These schools with the smaller booster base don't have a chance. Financial consortiums called "Collectives" where booster money is pooled have sprung up and replaced the lone wolf super booster. Everyone wants a piece of the pie, from the starters to the scrubs. Even second and third team players at schools such as Alabama will enter the transfer portal for greener pastures if their financial demands are not met. Young athletes want instant gratification. It's a sign of the times. Plus, the schools with the bigger fan bases get more money because they have more boosters. The rich keep getting richer.
I'm not pining for the good old days. The system wasn't fair to the athletes. But as one source was quoted, and I paraphrase, we closed one Pandora's Box only to open four or five others. Now we have the advent of super-agents to the coaches such as Jimmy Sexton pulling the strings behind the scenes. Plus, benchwarmers are going hat in hand to coaches wanting to be paid, or, will transfer if their demands aren't met. Money talks. If you want to preserve the sanctity of college athletics, don't hold your breath. Those days are gone. This book is an eye opener and can jade you if you aren't open to change. I thoroughly enjoyed it and I think you will, too.
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