Alan Ray (Guest Host): As they usually did, the Romans had a term for it, "cui bono"...”to who's benefit?”
In this case, we ask who wins if a college basketball team chooses to lose? And, who loses? Point-shaving scandals once pushed college basketball into a dark age. But that was the '50s and this is the era of March Madness. Still, as the Mistress Elvira or Yogi Berra once said "it's like deja-vu all over again."
College basketball teams are shaving points not just because of bookies, point spreads, and payoffs which, in a way, would be easier to understand. But now, apparently because they believe a loss in a meaningless game may put them in a better position down the road. A new report considers why that might happen and who wins when, or if, it does.
Guest
- Ed Balsdon, economics professor at San Diego State University. He is also the lead researcher on an article that recently appeared in the Journal of Sports Economics , titled Corruption in College Basketball? Evidence of Tanking in Postseason Conference Tournaments.
