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The System

The Glory and Scandal of Big-Time College Football

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 AN EXPLOSIVE AND REVELATORY PORTRAIT REPORTED FROM DEEP BEHIND THE SCENES OF BIG-TIME NCAA COLLEGE FOOTBALL: THE PASSION, THE THRILLING ACTION—AND THE SHOCKING REALITIES THAT LIE BENEATH THIS COLOSSAL, MULTIBILLION-DOLLAR BUSINESS

COLLEGE FOOTBALL has never been more popular—or more chaotic. Millions fill 100,000-seat stadiums every Saturday; tens of millions more watch on television every weekend. The 2013 Discover BCS National Championship game between Notre Dame and Alabama had a viewership of 26.4 million people, second only to the Super Bowl. Billions of dollars from television deals now flow into the game; the average budget for a top-ten team is $80 million; top coaches make more than $3 million a year; the highest paid, more than $5 million.
But behind this glittering success are darker truths: “athlete-students” working essentially full-time jobs with no share in the oceans of money; players who often don’t graduate and end their careers with broken bodies; “janitors” who clean up player misconduct; football “hostesses” willing to do whatever it takes to land a top recruit; seven-figure black box recruiting slush funds. And this: Despite the millions of dollars pouring into the game, 90 percent of major athletic departments still lose money. Yet schools remain caught up in an ever-escalating “arms race”—at the expense of academic scholarships, facilities and faculty.
Celebrated investigative journalists Jeff Benedict and Armen Keteyian were granted unprecedented access during the 2012 season to programs at the highest levels across the country at a time of convulsive change in college football. Through dogged reporting, they explored every nook and cranny of this high-powered machine, and reveal how it operates from the inside out. The result: the system through the eyes of athletic directors and coaches, high-flying boosters and high-profile TV stars, five-star recruits and tireless NCAA investigators and the kids on whom the whole vast enterprise depends.
Both a celebration of the power and pageantry of NCAA football and a groundbreaking, thought-provoking critique of its excesses, The System is the definitive book on the college game. Education Football (American) Higher & Continuing Education Sociology of Sports Sports Game Money
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I enjoyed listening to the book. narrator was good if a little dry and it gave some good insights. I was expecting a little more of an expose based on the blurb but that might have just been my misinterpretation. overall highly enjoyable.

good listen very enjoyable

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Interesting, exciting, inspirational and somewhat depressing in places. Everything was well explained and the author and narrator really sell the excitement and appeal of college athletics. I enjoyed it a lot.

Hugely informative

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This book gives an inside look at the whole world of college football, from booster's, hostesses, AD's via players, coaches and the Game day TV crew. Fascinating and insightful, I learnt so much, if you have any interest in college football you cannot fail to find this book interesting. The biggest compliment that I can pay the narrator is that he enhanced my enjoyment of a fascinating book.

just amazing inside look at college football

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Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes

What did you like best about this story?

Very informative

Which character – as performed by Mark Deakins – was your favourite?

n/a

If you made a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

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Any additional comments?

Really enjoyed listening to this, very informative and interesting, certainly one of the best books I've purchased on Audible.

Great Listen

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The insight was great, very detailed and insightful for someone with limited knowledge of college football.

Level of detail

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