What Investors Need To Know About The Business Of College Hoops

Welcome to the eighth episode of Full-Court Finance, the podcast from Zacks Investment Research focused on the intersection of sports, business, and the stock market. On this week’s episode, we jump into the business of college basketball to help provide investors deeper insights into the world of big-time NCAA hoops, as the likes of Nike (NYSE:NKE) , CBS (NYSE:CBS) , ESPN, and others continue to fuel the sport.

Big-time programs engulfed in scandal, debate surrounding the one-and-done rule, and the NCAA’s role in enforcing amateurism are likely to remain some of the biggest storylines during the 2017-18 college basketball season, even as the regular season begins to heat up.

Still, in an era where blue chip college basketball programs, such as the University of Kentucky, Indiana, and Duke, could be worth upwards of $340 million on the open market, the sport is seemingly more profitable than ever.

CBS and Turner (NYSE:TWX) are set to spend billions of dollars on the rights to the roughly one month NCAA March Madness tournament through 2032. On top of that, major sponsors of one of the biggest U.S. sporting events such as Coke (NASDAQ:COKE) , AT&T (NYSE:T) , and Capital One (NYSE:COF) aren’t likely to leave anytime soon. And this just covers the most mainstream portion of the college hoops season.

Disney’s (NYSE:DIS) struggling sports media network, ESPN, is deeply invested in college basketball. The nearly five-month regular season is fueled by marquee games presented by the likes of Lowe’s (NYSE:LOW) and sponsor-laden in-season tournaments tied to Progressive (NYSE:PGR) , Gildan (TO:GIL) , 2K (NYSE:T) , and many more. Even social media powerhouse Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) bought the rights to live stream college basketball this season.

Lastly, as many college basketball fans and investors already know, Nike, Adidas (OTC:ADDYY) , and Under Armour (NYSE:UAA) might be the real lifeblood of NCAA hoops.

If you have any questions about this episode of Full-Court Finance please feel free to shoot us an email over at podcast@zacks.com. Please also make sure to check out all of our other podcasts at zacks.com/podcast and remember to subscribe and leave a rating in iTunes.

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