The College of Business Administration will host a seminar on the economics of intercollegiate athletics at 10 a.m., today in the Wick Alumni Center. The seminar is open to the public.
John Siegfried, professor of economics at Vanderbilt University and secretary-treasurer of the American Economic Association, will present "What Does Intercollegiate Athletics Do to (or for) Colleges and Universities?"
“John Siegfried has a very entertaining and direct way of presenting economic ideas and issues,” said William Walstad, professor of economics at UNL and one of the seminar's organizers with fellow UNL economist Sam Allgood. Siegfried will cover the commercial qualities of intercollegiate sports, and how that affects the university as a whole.
“He’ll talk about the effects of sports on public relations for universities and advertising that occur from collegiate athletics,” Walstad added. “He’ll also address the issue of intercollegiate sports and donations to colleges and universities — whether that’s a positive or negative effect. Then he’ll look at the effect of athletics and intercollegiate competition on the athletes themselves, both in terms of their academic performance and their athletic careers, either in professional sports or in other areas.”
— Roger Simonsen, College of Business Administration