[Vision2020] Re: Football

[Tim Lohrmann]

Mark, you wrote: 
   "All but the biggest schools can't really afford
first rate major sports programs." 
Hmm.....seems like WSU and Gonzaga do pretty
well--better than many schools 5 or 6 times Gonzaga's
size or more than double WSU's size. 

Also,it's not exactly news that College ball has
become a farm system for the pros, that sports is
entertainment or that not every student athelete
becomes a pro. 
Maybe I've been misinformed, but I've not seen
anything in any of the posts here that amount to more
than a few anecdotes, personal "gut feelings" or
opinions about how much sports actually does
cost/take-in at the various levels. 
TL




--- Mark Rounds <ltrwritr@moscow.com> wrote:
> Folks,
> 
> I grew up while my father was at a small, private
> college in MT.  Since I
> was a kid, they scrapped and restarted an athletic
> program three times.
> Each time, a board of regents made the decision that
> the athletic program
> had to break even.  This didn't include the new
> buildings such as a gym and
> training center that the students benefited from but
> just travel,
> scholarships, supplies, coaches, etc.....  Each time
> they struggled and
> died.  Then a new president would come in and decide
> that the athletics
> program would be the thing to stimulate donations. 
> So it flourishes for a
> while, then donations trickle off and with the next
> economic down turn, the
> programs are cut down to the bare minimums and then
> removed.
> 
> This is a trend that is increasing at the smaller
> private schools and the
> figures put forward in some of the posts here aren't
> a surprise.  All but
> the biggest schools can't really afford first rate
> major sports programs.
> If you don't believe me, spend a little idle time
> searching the web or
> better yet, just do some basic math.  Find out what
> athletic directors make,
> scholarship totals are, work study given to athletes
> that in many cases
> wouldn't have gone to college in the first place,
> what the true costs of
> maintaining a top flight athletic program are,
> factor in a reasonable amount
> of over head and the numbers are huge. .
> 
> The athletic program was created as a diversion to
> allow students to let off
> steam and socialize while they are attempting to
> complete their course of
> study.  Instead, esspecially in the major sports
> such as basketball and foot
> ball, our college teams have been turned into farm
> teams for the pros.
> Unlike baseball, which supports its own farm team
> and scouting system, these
> sports have conned the tax payer and the sports
> minded university donors in
> to paying for their farm team systems.  Great racket
> if you can make it
> work.  These figures also don't count the tragic
> human cost in injuries and
> folks who leave the game educationally handicapped
> and broke because most
> college athletes level school without a chance at
> the big money in the pros.
> 
> Don't misunderstand where I come from.  I am an
> aging jock myself, having
> played football and water polo at the college level
> and my father, a brother
> and several cousins played pro football.  I also
> don't believe the system
> will soon change because there is a whole industry
> that has grown up
> supporting the care and feeding of major sports
> programs at universities.  I
> just want them to know that I see the game being
> played.  I enjoy playing
> sports (hey, even old guys play) and to a lesser
> extent watching selected
> sports, but bare in mind that with all the high
> minded rhetoric about what a
> sports program can provide, it is just part of the
> entertainment industry.
> 
> Mark Rounds
> 
> At 07:42 PM 12/23/2002 -0800, Brent Capener wrote:
> >     Tim makes a good, but I feel one sided point. 
> His post disregards the
> >fact that the huge flow
> >of money to sports (football) does alienate some of
> the academia minded
> >alumni, thus reducing these
> >contributions.Why send $50 to the college of
> engineering knowing that a cool
> >million will be diverted
> > from essentially the same pot for football?  After
> all, isn't the first and
> >foremost mission of a real university education?
> >     Sure, I enjoy a good game of college football,
> just like most people.
> >But I believe that college
> >football should be precisely that, not pro football
> in disguise.
> >
> >Brent Capener
> >
> >
> >----- Original Message ----- >
> >> But if a program IS losing money, I guess the
> question
> >> would come down to the bottom line. Does it makes
> more
> >> sense to subsidize and keep alumni contributions
> >> flowing OR alienate alumni by cutting the
> football
> >> budget--thereby insuring that giving from sports
> >> minded alumni slows to a trickle?
> >>         TL
> >
>
>_____________________________________________________
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>     
> >          mailto:Vision2020@moscow.com
>
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> >
> 
> 
>
_____________________________________________________
>  List services made available by First Step
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