The costs and benefits of a winning college football team

Jan 15, 2018
Having a winning college football team led by a top caliber coach is worth the investment for some cities. Just ask Manhattan, Kansas, which invested over $200 million to improve its sport facilities and paid the coach for Kansas State’s football team $3 million last year.  The number of hotel rooms in the city doubled […]

Athletic departments scramble as donors lose tax deduction for ticket rights

Jan 1, 2018
Donations made in exchange for university sports season tickets will no longer be 80 percent tax deductible in 2018, which has some schools worried that donations could drop.
Jalen Hurts #2 of the Alabama Crimson Tide looks to pass during the first quarter against the Auburn Tigers at Jordan Hare Stadium on November 25, 2017 in Auburn, Alabama.
Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images

When our social ills were solved with a little pink

Dec 26, 2017
In 1979, a psychologist presented a potential solution to rising crime levels. It became a phenomenon.
View of the holding cell 14 November 2006 of the newly painted Dallas County jail in Buffalo, Missouri, with the color scheme of pink with blue teddy bear accents. The Dallas County Detention Center is being repainted a soft shade of pink in an effort to better manage sometimes volatile detainees.
JEFF HAYNES/AFP/Getty Images

Beer, big screen TVs and the Dodgers

Oct 13, 2017
Fall sports are in full swing. Football season began last month, hockey kicked off last week, basketball begins soon and playoff baseball has fans riveted. And lots of people will be watching from sports bars instead of the couch. This is perhaps especially true in Los Angeles, where the Dodgers are in the playoffs, but the […]
Yasiel Puig of the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Stephen Dunn/Getty Images

What if they held a bake sale for women's pro sports?

Oct 4, 2017
Without big sponsors, women's football survives on school-style fundraising, the NFL's first female coach says.
Jen Welter worked in the NFL as a coach for the Arizona Cardinals.
Christian Petersen/Getty Images

The NFL vs. Trump: Can you be fired for a peaceful protest?

Sep 25, 2017
President Trump called on the NFL to fire players who did not stand during the national anthem.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers Wide Receivers Mike Evans #13, and DeSean Jackson #11, take a knee during the national anthem before the game against the Minnesota Vikings on September 24, 2017 at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Minnesota. 
Hannah Foslien/Getty Images

For public good, not for profit.

The big money NFL players earn may not last into retirement unless they make a plan

Sep 4, 2017
Around 15 percent of professional football players file for bankruptcy a dozen years after retirement.
The West Lafayette, Indiana Stacked Pickle location is one of a chain of nine such restaurants owned by former NFL player Gary Brackett.
Stan Jastrzebski/ for Marketplace

The NFL looks to China for a few hundred million fans

Aug 24, 2017
The NFL this week said it was partnering with Chinese tech giant Tencent — which attracts more than a billion users to its platforms, including social network WeChat — to build its base of football fans in China as U.S. audiences decline.  Click the audio player above to hear the full story.

Why Amazon may eventually touch everything we do online

Apr 5, 2017
The company's market cap is nearly twice that of Wal-Mart, and it keeps growing.
Amazon has won the rights to stream "Thursday Night Football" for the upcoming NFL season. Above, founder and CEO Jeff Bezos.
David Ryder/Getty Images