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The NCAA’s Financial Freefall with Jesse Dougherty

The NCAA’s Financial Freefall with Jesse Dougherty

Update: 2025-12-01
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College sports aren’t just expensive; they are financially upside down. In this episode of Sportly, host Kavitha Davidson sits down with Washington Post college sports reporter Jesse Dougherty for a sharp, clear-eyed breakdown of the NCAA’s spiraling money crisis.


The episode cuts through the noise to explain:


Why coaching salaries and buyouts have exploded to NFL-level numbers


How the new $20 million athlete compensation model actually works


Why boosters now influence hiring and firing more than ever


How NIL changed the landscape in ways the NCAA never anticipated


Why minor sports are being cut even as revenues hit the billions


Whether private equity and Congress can fix any of this or make it worse


Dougherty brings deep reporting and uncommon clarity to one of the most misunderstood issues in sports: the real economics of college athletics. You'll hear what’s driving the spending arms race, what’s myth vs. reality, and whether the current NCAA model is even sustainable.


If you care about NIL, athlete pay, conference realignment, or how college sports became a financial runaway train, this interview delivers the insight you’ve been looking for.


Tune in for a conversation that’s fast, honest, and impossible to un-hear.


Host: Kavitha A. Davison | Producer: Paroma Chakravarty I Executive Producer: Saadia Khan | Fact Checking and Research: Paroma Chakravarty I Sound Designer & Editor: Paroma Chakravarty I Immigrantly Theme Music: Simon Hutchinson | Other Music: Epidemic Sound | Cover Art Graphic Designer: Sarah DiMichele


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http://studio.com/saadia


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You can reach the host, Kavitha, at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠kavitha@immigrantlypod.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠


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The NCAA’s Financial Freefall with Jesse Dougherty

The NCAA’s Financial Freefall with Jesse Dougherty

Immigrantly Media