Dates: Thursdays, May 23 & 30
Time: 1:00—2:30 p.m.
Place: ISU Cunningham Memorial Library
Room 028
Cost: $10

While many pine for the “good old days” before college sports became big business, the influence of sponsors and advertisers is not new to intercollegiate athletics. In fact, the very first American intercollegiate athletic competition, a boat race between Harvard and Yale in 1852, was sponsored by the Boston, Montreal, and Concord Railroad Company.
Since that time, intercollegiate sports in the United States has grown from a primarily student-led competition for bragging rights to a vast commercial operation. As of 2021, the U.S. Dept. of Education estimated the size of the US college sports industry to be $14.4 billion. The financial impact of college athletics and the accompanying cultural attachment is uniquely American.
In this two-session course, Dr. Jim Evans, Professor of Sport Management, will discuss the historical evolution of the business of college sports with particular emphasis on recent legal and governance changes that give college athletes greater rights than they have ever had. Session One will cover the evolution of college athletics as a business, and Session Two will highlight recent changes to college sports (NIL/Transfer Portal) that will undoubtedly impact how the game is played, coached, and enjoyed by fans.