Freakonomics Radio 648. The Merger You Never Knew You Wanted
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Oct 3, 2025 
Join former NFL player and sports analyst Domonique Foxworth, along with sports economist Victor Matheson, antitrust litigator Jeffrey Kessler, and sports executive Oliver Luck, as they explore the provocative idea of merging college and NFL football. They discuss the exploitation of student-athletes, groundbreaking legal battles transforming compensation rules, and the implications of a potential merger for the sports landscape. Get insights into the future of promotions, relegation, and how colleges might adapt their revenue structures.
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Player Treated Worse Than Coaches
- Domonique Foxworth recounts receiving a DVD player and sweatshirts while coaches got major raises and cars.
- He uses this personal experience to illustrate how college athletes historically provided unpaid labor while others profited.
The 'Student-Athlete' Legal Fiction
- Victor Matheson explains the term "student athlete" was invented to avoid calling players workers and paying them wages.
- Framing athletes as students enabled colleges to extract labor value without market compensation.
Coaches Take A Disproportionate Cut
- Matheson contrasts coach pay as a share of revenue: top college coaches earn a far larger percentage than NFL coaches relative to team revenue.
- This highlights how revenue concentrates at the top while athletes receive almost nothing.
