The Price

What It Takes to Win in College Football’s Era of Chaos

By: Armen Keteyian, John Talty

Narrated by: Will Damron

“An explosive tell-all book.”—Sports Illustrated

“This is a must-read masterpiece.”—Paul Finebaum, ESPN college football analyst and New York Times bestselling author

Two of the nation’s most respected sports journalists team up for a vital, hard-hitting investigation into the tumultuous state of big-time college football.

We are living in the Wild West of college sports. Name, Image and Likeness endorsements, the transfer portal, collectives, conference realignment, the powerful influence of media companies have all rendered the notion of amateur athletics a quaint relic of the past, replaced by a Brave New World where money and self-interest rule.

The Price is a sweeping, in-depth, thought-provoking look at an inflection point in big-time college football. Six time New York Times bestselling author Armen Keteyian and award-winning national college football reporter John Talty conducted more than two hundred wide-ranging interviews with head coaches, athletic directors, conference commissioners, administrators, politicians, power brokers, agents and media executives from one corner of the sport to the other. They reveal never-before-reported details on major players such as Nick Saban, Jim Harbaugh, Kirby Smart, Jimbo Fisher, and Lane Kiffin. Keteyian and Talty’s reporting also lays bare the machinations that destroyed the historic conference that was the Pac-12, purely in the name of greed.

As the sport’s premier coaches race for the exits, Keteyian and Talty reveal deep, dark truths about a beloved game under siege—and the financial, physical, emotional and psychological toll taken on everyone whose dreams and fortunes often depend on the final score on a Saturday afternoon.

©2024 John Talty and Armen Keteyian (P)2024 HarperCollins Publishers

Truth

Very informative and insiders knowledge of the real world of college football !
If you're a college football fan it's a must.

NIL and the Chaos

This book describes in detail the year of 2023 through May of 2024 and the complete chaos of college football
And it is greed and money that has driven this sport to the brink of just being NFL farm league. Education has been left far behind. And it is spreading to high school. I have coached high school in Alabama and Florida for a total of 36 yrs and this is making it hard to build let alone develop a team. It has become dollar signs and what will you do for me not what will my role be with this team and how can I be a good team mate. A sad slow death of football in a time when we need the values taught in this game and greed is not one of these virtues great read

Up-to-date information

The book is very informative and provides a great insight into the world of college football. College is changing monthly and the authors did their best to stay as up-to-date as possible.

A Must for the College Football Fan!

Wow - what a ride this book is as it takes you behind the scenes of the insanity that has become college football. It will make you joyful and sad in how the sport has changed due to the self-inflicted chaos. Just a fantastic listen and reporting by Keyeyian and Talty and you will hear the efforts of the tremendous work they put into researching this book. Just fantastic.

the curtain is lifted - somewhat

This was a great book if you follow college football. the information you get from the writers is interesting. I would highly recommend it.

Tremendous read

I loved the in-depth stories and characters in the book. The authors did an excellent job of being in so many different angels.

incredible insights on the CFB World

whether you are a college football die Hard fan or a casual observer, you will learn something from this book. there is incredible insights and behind the scenes information

A must-read for every college football fan

The book itself is phenomenal. The detail, facts, anecdotes and evidence are all outstanding. But sometimes the narrator sounded like an AI bot. Other times, the narrator could not properly pronounce words, and it was clear that he did not have a sports background.

Exellent mind blowing, portal transfes and NIL

This is exactly what I wanted after listening to the author's excellent book, The System, released in 2013. I first listened to that book in 2022, and at that point, it was nine years old. As soon as I finished, I thought, "Wow, I would really like to hear what the author(s) have to say about the very current inner workings of college football with the portal transfers and pay-for-play NIL." Well, here it is, and it is fantastic. An absolute must for a college football fan or anyone else who likes a great tell-all with jaw dropping revalations that I had no idea about, these journalists know how to write a page turning book you have to listen.

The Best College Football Book

The genesis of the new age of college football. For every College Football fan period.