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Degree Name
MA (Master of Arts)
Program
Brand and Media Strategy
Date of Award
5-2023
Committee Chair or Co-Chairs
Robert A. Dunn
Committee Members
Mildred Perreault, David S. Piercy
Abstract
College athletics have faced a lot of challenges and changes in the last two decades. Sports like football and basketball have been the main money-making streams for NCAA. With the popularity of college athletics growing, members of the business community have seen this as an opportunity to make money, especially members of the media. In turn, student-athletes have factored the ability to make money off of their own name, image, and likeness (NIL) into their college education decision. In order to explore this relationship between college athletics and the media industry, I analyzed how media rights in college basketball have affected college basketball recruiting over the last five years. Teams are not only recruiting players from high school, but they have to work hard and recruit players from the transfer portal, which allows for mid-collegiate-career changes. With the introduction of NIL, recruiting highly ranked players has become a complex process in that teams with smaller budgets feel helpless because money is not an issue for the bigger schools. In my research, I analyzed players and teams from all levels within Division 1 basketball, and through statistical analysis, The research found that better players are attracted by more affluent athletic programs. Teams with higher media rights revenue and overall revenue have a big advantage when it comes to recruiting highly rated high-school players or transfers. School enrollment does not play a significant role in some cases because student-athletes are mostly focused on their athletic experience.
Document Type
Thesis - restricted
Recommended Citation
Dedolli, Odri, "Big Ballers, Bigger Budget: An Exploration of College Athletes and University Media Revenues" (2023). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Paper 4226. https://dc.etsu.edu/etd/4226
Copyright
Copyright by the authors.