HOT DOG MONEY

Scathing exposé of systemic corruption in college sports.

Marty Blazer, writes crime journalist Lawson, author of War Dogs, started out as a financial adviser to college athletes back when they were supposed to be amateurs. Amateurs, yes, but there was plenty of “hot dog money” thrown around “in myriad forms, like electric bills or mortgages for…college kids’ parents,” as well as “weed, Louis XIII cognac, reservations at an exclusive restaurant”; the targets included not just promising prospects but coaches, front-office staff, and professional players. Part of Blazer’s job was keeping his clients from burning through their money. Another part was to keep the money coming in, and that involved a kind of pyramid scheme where pros and upper-division students kept an eye out for promising newcomers. In some states such as North Carolina, Blazer recounts to Lawson, it was illegal to pay students directly, “but agents would make sure the players got what they needed.” In time, with law enforcement closing in, Blazer became a cooperating informant and began to provide the details of payoffs up and down the NCAA chain, which ended up sending numerous figures in “a corrupt billion-dollar enterprise hiding behind the veil of amateurism” to court and jail in a sweeping investigation of corruption and bribery. As one might expect, Lawson writes with thinly veiled contempt, as those at the top of the ladder wound up paying less for their crimes than the players—though a few head coaches fell, too. Of course, the corruption is still there, even if players can now be paid. That’s to be expected in a business—and make no mistake, college sports is a massive business—where basketball alone brings in more than $1 billion per year.

A careful, damning look into the dark corners of collegiate athletics.