Issue date: 3/30/07 Section: News

Media Credit: Daniel Cohen Sports economist Andrew Zimbalist speaks about his new book last night at the Penn Bookstore. [Click to enlarge]

Attention, college coaches: You're overpaid.

So says Andrew Zimbalist, an economics professor at Smith College and one of the most renowned sports economists in the country.

Zimbalist addressed an intimate crowd at the Penn Bookstore last night, reading an excerpt from his new book, The Bottom Line: Observations and Arguments on the Sports Business, before fielding questions for nearly an hour.

He proposed a national cap on college coaches' salaries of about $700,000, arguing that the most successful collegiate teams generate one-tenth of the revenue of NFL teams but pay their coaches comparable salaries.

In a conversation fueled by two members of the Penn Athletic department in attendance, Zimbalist was harshly critical of collegiate athletics and the NCAA.

"It's become a trade association for athletic directors, coaches and conference commissioners," he said. "They're entrenched, … and [reformers] are facing a challenge that has never been met by any college president going back to 1905."

He critiqued college athletics both economically and morally, saying that fewer than 10 NCAA teams generate a true surplus. Meanwhile, he said, so-called student-athletes are deprived of learning.

He added that only one in 1,000 college basketball players make the NBA, while the number is slightly higher - one in 400 - for the NFL. And a significant number of student athletes don't even graduate.

"They should be getting an education, but they're not," he said.

He used the courseload of Ohio State freshman basketball phenomenon Greg Oden as an example of a lack of academic vigor.

Oden, he said, is taking "Introduction to Rock and Roll" and "Introduction to Sociology" and is receiving course credit for playing basketball.

Zimbalist, who has written eight books on the sports industry, also provided his take on professional sports.

"I think soccer is ready to take off in this country," he said, but he doesn't see the NHL regaining major sport status.

College sophomore Sriram Rajan was drawn to the event because he is taking a Legal Studies course entitled "The Sports Industry."

"I thought it was really interesting," Rajan said. "He could … explain his answers in a way we can all understand."

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