Why a strong mission and inspired leadership are vital to the success of America’s colleges and universities In 1998, soon after assuming the presidency of Tulane University, Scott Cowen was confronted with a setback. Despite an undefeated football season and putting the best financial deal on the table, Cowen was unable to retain the school's football coach. The coach wanted something the president didn't have--a football program so popular, as the coach put it, that fans would line up their Winnebagos on Wednesdays in anticipation of Saturday games. In that moment, Cowen improbably found himself in the entertainment business—and his university was deemed wanting. At a time when schools seem overrun by sports programs, spiraling costs, and absurd ranking systems, Winnebagos on Wednesdays argues that colleges and universities of all stripes and sizes can achieve their educational aims if they possess two things: visionary leadership and a strong mission. Cowen, named one of the nation's top university presidents by Time magazine in 2009, gives a behind-the-scenes look at the critical demands faced by many education leaders. He profiles a range of situations, from how Diana Natalicio of the University of Texas at El Paso expanded a school serving a specific demographic into an academic powerhouse to how Michael Sorrell shifted Paul Quinn College's mission to urban entrepreneurship in order to save the institution. Cowen also draws from his own hard-won experiences, including the rebuilding of Tulane and New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina and the decision to maintain Tulane's football program. He shows how crucial choices in tough situations shape organizations, for better or ill. A sweeping overview of the higher education landscape, Winnebagos on Wednesdays demonstrates that the courage of transformative leadership is essential for colleges and universities to remain vital.

In this thoroughly revised Fourth Edition, Glenn Wong provides a comprehensive review of the various sports law issues facing professional, intercollegiate, Olympic, high school, youth, and adult recreational sports. Major topics include tort liability, contracts/waivers, antitrust law, labor law, constitutional law, gender discrimination, drug testing, intellectual property law, broadcasting laws pertaining to sports agents, business and employment law, Internet gambling, and athletes with disabilities. Significant additions here include new court decisions, agreements (contracts and collective bargaining agreements), and legislation (federal, state, association, and institutional rules and regulations). Discussions of legal concepts are supplemented with summaries and excerpts from hundreds of actual sports cases. Wong cites a variety of books, law review articles, newspaper articles, and Web links for those requiring further information on particular topics. This text-professional guide serves as an invaluable resource to those involved, or studying to become involved, in the vast industry of sports.

Contains essays in which Andrew Zimbalist examines the challenges facing the sports industry in the second decade of the twenty-first century, discussing the financial crisis in college sports, labor relations in professional leagues, the economic impact of the Olympics, and other topics.

Does the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) exploit student athletes? Should athletes be paid? Does Title IX unfairly discriminate against men's sports? Are the salaries of head coaches excessive? Why is there so much cheating in college sports? Should the sports department be subsidized by the university? Why do universities place so much emphasis on athletics?The above are just some of the questions raised in this sports economics textbook specially designed to teach undergraduate students about the college sports industry. The book focuses on the unique cartel structure of the NCAA and its member institutions to shed light on the labor market for college athletes and coaches; the tension between athletics and academics; the finance of athletic departments; the role of the media and commercialization of college sports; race, gender, and legal issues; and the desirability and plausibility of reform.The book reinforces the economic analysis with a variety of examples of recent events and can be used as either a primary or secondary text.