Who's In?: A Political Economic Analysis of the College Football Playoff

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dc.contributor.advisorCurtin, Patricia
dc.contributor.authorEichner, Matthew
dc.date.accessioned2022-10-26T15:27:47Z
dc.date.available2022-10-26T15:27:47Z
dc.date.issued2022-10-26
dc.description.abstractThe purpose of this dissertation was to examine the CFP and its media presence through a political economic lens. For the political economic scholar, the CFP as an entry point into studying media and sport is a natural one. The foundations of the current culture of the broadcast of college football, including the CFP, is based on the Supreme Court’s 1984 ruling in the case of NCAA vs Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma, which enabled universities and conferences to negotiate their own contracts with broadcast networks. The data show the CFP is emblematic of the superstructure built on an economic base seeking greater surplus value by commodifying college football and exploiting the student-athlete laborers within the sport media complex. This study suggested a new sport media complex model for the CFP better theorizes the unpaid contributions of student-athletes as media content producers. This study suggests the CFP may be one of the most egregious examples of worker exploitation and economic inequality in all of sport.Though the CFP has helped lead to a widening of the gap between the larger and more powerful universities and conferences and those that are not, even the smallest of Division I conferences have received money directly from the CFP. As a natural outgrowth of the aforementioned Supreme Court ruling, the CFP has provided a remedy to the universities, the broadcasters, and the fans for greater amounts of college football. The data suggest, however, that the student-athletes and most Division I conferences, especially the Group of 5 conferences that have ownership in the CFP, have been left behind in the economics of college football and especially the CFP. This dissertation suggests compensating student-athletes who participate in the CFP as content producers, similar to how NFL players are compensated for participating in the NFL playoffs. It also suggests leveling the playing field between conferences through a more egalitarian payment of the hundreds of millions of dollars that the CFP pays to conferences every year. These changes are more likely to keep or increase competitiveness in college football, and therefore more likely to stay the No. 2 sport in the U.S. as fans are more invested in the outcomes of their teams.en_US
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/1794/27753
dc.language.isoen_US
dc.publisherUniversity of Oregon
dc.rightsAll Rights Reserved.
dc.subjectCollege athleticsen_US
dc.subjectCollege footballen_US
dc.subjectCollege Football Playoffen_US
dc.subjectCommunication and mediaen_US
dc.subjectPolitical Economyen_US
dc.subjectStudent-athleteen_US
dc.titleWho's In?: A Political Economic Analysis of the College Football Playoff
dc.typeElectronic Thesis or Dissertation
thesis.degree.disciplineSchool of Journalism and Communication
thesis.degree.grantorUniversity of Oregon
thesis.degree.leveldoctoral
thesis.degree.namePh.D.

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