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The 50 Year Seduction: How Television Manipulated College Football, from the Birth of the Modern NCAA to the Creation of the BCS
In The Fifty-Year Seduction , Keith Dunnavant shows how television helped shape the modern sport--on and off the field.
For more than a half century, television has played a primary role in securing college football's place as one of America's most popular spectator sports. But it has also been the common denominator in the sport's rise as a big business. Television, which multiplied the number of people who cared about the game, simultaneously increased the stakes.
The colleges, who once feared television's ability to create free tickets, gradually became addicted to its charms. Through the years, the medium manufactured money, greed, dependence, and envy; altered the recruiting process, eventually forcing the colleges to compete with the irresistible force of National Football League riches; aided the National Collegiate Athletic Association's explosion from impotent union to massive bureaucracy; manipulated the rise and fall of the College Football Association; fomented the realignment of conferences; and seized control of the post-season bowl games, including the formation of the lucrative and controversial Bowl Championship Series.
In painstaking detail, the author chronicles five decades of tension and conflict, from the 1951 television dispute that empowered the modern NCAA to the inevitable backlash, culminating with the landmark Supreme Court decision that set the stage for the conference-swapping machinations of the 1990s and beyond.
For more than a half century, television has played a primary role in securing college football's place as one of America's most popular spectator sports. But it has also been the common denominator in the sport's rise as a big business. Television, which multiplied the number of people who cared about the game, simultaneously increased the stakes.
The colleges, who once feared television's ability to create free tickets, gradually became addicted to its charms. Through the years, the medium manufactured money, greed, dependence, and envy; altered the recruiting process, eventually forcing the colleges to compete with the irresistible force of National Football League riches; aided the National Collegiate Athletic Association's explosion from impotent union to massive bureaucracy; manipulated the rise and fall of the College Football Association; fomented the realignment of conferences; and seized control of the post-season bowl games, including the formation of the lucrative and controversial Bowl Championship Series.
In painstaking detail, the author chronicles five decades of tension and conflict, from the 1951 television dispute that empowered the modern NCAA to the inevitable backlash, culminating with the landmark Supreme Court decision that set the stage for the conference-swapping machinations of the 1990s and beyond.
306 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 1, 2004
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
April 3, 2024
It’s now officially dated, and the end of the book is hard to read because of hindsight (and weirdly has spelling errors abound?) but the best part of the book is centered around the NCAA’s control of television from the 50’s to the 80’s and it’s surprising prescient predictions of the NCAA’s “bluff” being called. As badly as the end of the book’s BCS section aged, its criticisms of the NCAA and parallels with today are wonderfully stated.
Can be a bit of a dry read and you really have to be comfortable with learning more about the material but the details are what make the story fascinating and drive home how much control television has over the sport, and has always had.
Can be a bit of a dry read and you really have to be comfortable with learning more about the material but the details are what make the story fascinating and drive home how much control television has over the sport, and has always had.
March 16, 2014
As part of my elective course in business school I was allowed to write a paper on the financial implications of a changed to the Bowl Championship Series (BCS). One of the biggest arguments my paper made (see May 11th post here:http://customnwokedi.blogspot.com/) was a college football playoff was actually financially superior to the BCS for all colleges involved. Keith Dunnavant's book played an integral part in my preparation to write this research paper.
I believe that this book is worth the read especially for you die-hard college football fans out there! It will give you a deep insight into how television money has forever changed/shaped the Lancaster of the sport we all love so much.
With that I leave you with my favorite quote from the book:
"The Bowl Championship Series (BCS) was devised outside the structure of the NCAA. It was a creation not just of the big six leagues but of the free market, of television. Since television made the BCS possible, television will ultimately have the final say on whether a larger and more inclusive BCS will work financially.”
I believe that this book is worth the read especially for you die-hard college football fans out there! It will give you a deep insight into how television money has forever changed/shaped the Lancaster of the sport we all love so much.
With that I leave you with my favorite quote from the book:
"The Bowl Championship Series (BCS) was devised outside the structure of the NCAA. It was a creation not just of the big six leagues but of the free market, of television. Since television made the BCS possible, television will ultimately have the final say on whether a larger and more inclusive BCS will work financially.”
October 24, 2016
Thorough review of how college football evolved
While at times the book gets into too much detail, it does a great job of giving the framework of how the game changed over the 20th century. I wish there was a little more in the way of talking about the characters on the screen but overall a good book for college football fans.
While at times the book gets into too much detail, it does a great job of giving the framework of how the game changed over the 20th century. I wish there was a little more in the way of talking about the characters on the screen but overall a good book for college football fans.
June 10, 2023
The best CFB history book I’ve read to date. Entertaining as can be the whole way through, with a fascinating look at the power players involved in the NCAA, power conferences, and (eventually) the BCS. Even casual football fans will get a lot out of this one.
May 5, 2024
college football history
Excellent description of the evolution of college football. This book should’ve been updated every 10 years to capture the further evolution to the CFP and now expanded CFP. Still a worthwhile read!
Excellent description of the evolution of college football. This book should’ve been updated every 10 years to capture the further evolution to the CFP and now expanded CFP. Still a worthwhile read!
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews