Dixieland's Delight: Alabama Tops Among All Colleges In Football Spending, Auburn Second

There were 38 colleges that "spent more than" $20M on their football programs last year, according to data from the Department of Education cited by Stefan Stevenson of the FT. WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM. Alabama topped the list with more than $41M in expenses, with Auburn ranking second at $36M and TCU spending the "fifth-most in the country" at more than $31M (FT. WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM, 12/18).

STATE OF THE UNION: SI.com's Michael McCann reported organizational efforts are "underway to form a college athletes' trade association." The association would "effectively be a players' union and would negotiate on behalf of college athletes who elect to join it." The association would "enter into deals with television networks and video game companies, among others, for payment to college athletes that appear in broadcasts or in video games." Sources said that "several national public relations firms have submitted bids to create websites and other materials that would be used by the association to recruit college athletes." But McCann wrote there are "three main hurdles to the putative association's plans to convince networks and others to pay college athletes." One is that the First Amendment "may render college athletes 'free' for live broadcasts." Another is that TV networks "may not be willing to negotiate with a trade association." Finally, the "optics of college athletes 'being paid' could turn off fans" (SI.com, 12/17).