(Thumbnail image: KNSS Radio/The University of Kansas)

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"KU sports tickets, skimmed and scalped.  And the university's own investigation reveals, it was done by people within the athletic department. ... Five former KU employees and a consultant systematically stole and scalped some 20,000 tickets over the past five years here.  And even the probe's lead investigator here admits, their report may just scratch the surface." (KMBC)

One of America's most storied and successful basketball programs finds itself mired in a ticket controversy. Employees inside the University of Kansas athletic department allegedly stole some of the best tickets meant for high level donors — scalped the tickets — and pocketed the money.

We're analyzing coverage of what this might mean for KU and college athletics from KMBC-TV, Yahoo!Sports, KCTV5 and the Kansas City Star.

Yahoo!Sports broke the story, after interviewing a Lawrence, Kansas real-estate developer charged in an unrelated fraud case.  David Freeman implicated several members of the athletic department, including Rodney Jones, head of KU's influential Williams Fund, which allocates basketball tickets to the best donors.

"…Freeman said he was summoned to the team hotel by Jones, who handed him 20 books of tickets. Freeman said he took the tickets to a buyer, who paid him $3,000 per book … Later that evening, Freeman said Jones called him again and told him he had obtained another 20 books."

Freeman's attorney tells KCTV5, his client entered into a profer, which means he'll offer evidence in the case.

"I don't think without David Freeman coming forward and the FBI and IRS getting involved, anything would have ever happened. He's gotten vilified in Lawrence. It's hard for him to show his face. It's KU basketball."

On KMBC-TV9, reporter Peggy Breit interviews KU investigator Jack Focht who says this is likely to blow up.

FOCHT: "Wouldn't surprise me at all.  The federal government has the power of the grand jury subpoena, the FBI, the IRS, everybody else.  I had four or five attorneys and an audit team to look at records." 

PEGGY BREIT: "The auditors estimate the university's ticket losses could reach as high as $3 million."

And because there is so much money in college athletics, the Kansas City Star's Jason Whitlock says, this isn't just an indictment of Kansas basketball and its inner workings. 

"I’m calling for the NCAA to be disbanded. The organization has long outlived its usefulness. More important, its current system of governance and hypocritical rules that exist solely to financially exploit football and basketball players foment and justify corruption."

So what do you think of this scandal?  Unique to Kansas?  Or part of a larger problem in the high-stakes world of NCAA sports?

Get more multi-source sports and entertainment news from Newsy.com.