A mainstay in the college sports economy, they have quietly become a part of college football and basketball culture: the so-called “guarantee games” that pit some of the weakest teams in NCAA Division 1 against some of the strongest ones for money.
The payers are elite programs with budgets as high as $100 million, who sell out home stadiums and arenas for a lucrative blowout victory. The payees are often historically black colleges and universities, known as HBCUs, struggling to keep their doors open, and easily outclassed on the field and court, but sent off with a needed paycheck. What happens when such mismatched competitors collide?
REAL SPORTS correspondent David Scott investigates the truth and consequences of the guarantee games, exploring why they have become so essential to black college sports and why no one seems to be heeding the warnings about the health and safety risks or the academic impact on HBCU student-athletes.
REAL SPORTS WITH BRYANT GUMBEL, returns on Tuesday, September. 26 at 10:00 p.m. ET/PT, exclusively on HBO.
