Entrepreneurship and the Advancement of Amateur Athletics

The overall purpose of this study was to examine the model of revenue generating amateur athletics (namely men's basketball and football) as governed by the NCAA and to find a competitive model maximizing benefit for all involved stakeholders. This study was examined using historical context, the Business Model Canvas popularized by Strategyzer, models of fair pay based on revenue in commerce, as well as the NCAA's own research. Major findings uncovered a structure operating as an oligopoly in which the only path of playing professional football is by way of playing through the NCAA, questions of importance on the educational aspect of the NCAA model for specific athletes, and the opportunities for new systems of organized men's basketball and football. Amateur collegiate athletics, specifically in men's basketball and football, could benefit from a new system that provides an additional path to the major professional leagues. Basketball has recently developed a system to verify the claims of this thesis while football is still reliant on the NCAA model. A future comparative analysis could be utilized to measure basketball's success or failure in their new system specifically targeting how it affects the athletes, the NBA, and the NCAA.