College Subsidies for Athletics Programs Increase, Despite Budget Cuts

I agree with Sandy. I enjoy football and basketball (and I think they offer more than mere entertainment — they can be appreciated on a deeper level much like the performing arts), but I simply don’t see the need for subsidies for athletics programs at the richest universities. The university where I did my Ph.D., and where I attended several events a year across several sports, didn’t charge students for admission to even football and men’s basketball, instead opting for a lottery to distribute free student tickets. Why not charge a fee for the tickets and let those most interested pay it?

I am a huge fan of college sports especially the “cash cows”–football and men’s basketball, but there is no doubt the expense of college sports, particularly those two sports, has run far a field from the academic mission of higher education.All the costs to have first rate, updated facilities to attract recruits rather than emphasizing the academic quality of the discipline an athlete wants to major in are outrageous. As one NCAA commercial points out regarding college athletes, “Almost all will be going pro in something beside sports.” Clearly, a major contradiction for athletic departments focused on “keeping up with the Joneses”The salaries paid coaches is ludicrous. Besides Nick Saban’s unjustifiable $4,000,000 a year salary, he got a $400,000 bonus for winning the BCS National Championship–the only good thing about that is since Alabama won, Texas did not have to pay $450,000 to Mack Brown whose salary was just raised to $5,000,000 a year. Perhaps state legislatures should pass legislation denying tax monies to universities who pay coaches over a specified appropriate amount, violations would require athletic departments to underwrite the academic needs of the university before anything is spent on athletic excess. What have we gained from this over-emphasis on athletics–repeated instances of “student-athletes” getting in trouble with the law, coaches constantly demonstrating loyalty to the size of excessively large paychecks rather than the institution, ticket prices beyond many people’s budget in an economic downturn, scheduling designed for television profits rather than academic progress, bad sportsmanship evident on the field, in the stands, parking lot, blogs, etc. An over emphasis on winning that is beyond belief–even though most people have to admit that they learned more through the tough times and “losses” than from winning.Obviously, the NCAA cannot put a specific limit on how much a coach can earn because cost of living varies around the country, but it could impose guidelines like a coach’s salary cannot exceed the highest paid academic faculty member on campus. Both sides would be obligated to abide by the terms of a contract for the length of the contract. Firing coaches could be allowed only in case of moral infractions or low graduation rates–winning and losing would not be a criteria. Once a scholarship is offered and accepted the university is obligated to honor it until graduation.