<html><body><div style="color:#000; background-color:#fff; font-family:HelveticaNeue, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, Lucida Grande, sans-serif;font-size:16px"><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1418745258209_3670" dir="ltr">Excerpts from an article in <i>Inside Higher Ed :</i></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1418745258209_3670" dir="ltr"><i><br></i></div><div class="" style="line-height: 25px; font-size: 22px; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); float: left; width: 450.953125px; padding-top: 4px; border-top-width: 0px; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.298039) 0px 4px 4px -1px; padding-left: 10px; -webkit-box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.298039) 0px 4px 4px -1px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, Corbel, 'Bitstream Vera Sans', 'DejaVu Sans', sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1418745258209_3742"><div class="" style="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1418745258209_3747"><div class="" style="padding-top: 5px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px;" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1418745258209_3746"><div class="" style="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1418745258209_3745"><div class="" style="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1418745258209_3744"><h1 style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; font-size: 22px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(238, 238, 238); line-height: 25px;" class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1418745258209_3743">A (Football) Tale of 2 Universities</h1></div></div></div></div></div><div class="" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, Corbel, 'Bitstream Vera Sans', 'DejaVu Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18.003999710083px; background-color: rgb(228, 228, 228);"></div><div class="" style="padding-top: 3px; font-size: 12px; clear: both; border-top-width: 0px; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.298039) 0px 4px 4px -1px; padding-left: 10px; -webkit-box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.298039) 0px 4px 4px -1px; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, Corbel, 'Bitstream Vera Sans', 'DejaVu Sans', sans-serif; line-height: 18.003999710083px; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1418745258209_3749"><div class="" style="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1418745258209_3748">December 16, 2014</div></div><div class="" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, Corbel, 'Bitstream Vera Sans', 'DejaVu Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18.003999710083px; background-color: rgb(228, 228, 228);"></div><div class="" style="border-top-width: 0px; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.298039) 0px 4px 4px -1px; padding-left: 10px; -webkit-box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.298039) 0px 4px 4px -1px; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, Corbel, 'Bitstream Vera Sans', 'DejaVu Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18.003999710083px; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1418745258209_3752"><h2 class="" style="float: left; padding-top: 6px; padding-right: 3px; clear: both; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 9px; font-weight: normal; border: 0px; line-height: 9px;">By</h2><div class="" style="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1418745258209_3751"><a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/users/richard-vedder-and-joseph-hartge" title="View user profile." class="" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(239, 117, 33);" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1418745258209_3750">Richard Vedder and Joseph Hartge</a></div></div><div class="" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, Corbel, 'Bitstream Vera Sans', 'DejaVu Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18.003999710083px; background-color: rgb(228, 228, 228);"></div><div class="" style="border-top-width: 0px; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.298039) 0px 4px 4px -1px; padding-left: 10px; -webkit-box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.298039) 0px 4px 4px -1px; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1418745258209_3755"><div class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1418745258209_3754"><div class="" style="padding-top: 10px;" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1418745258209_3753"><div class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1418745258209_3758"><div class="" property="content:encoded" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1418745258209_3757"><div style="color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, Corbel, 'Bitstream Vera Sans', 'DejaVu Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5em; padding-bottom: 10px;" class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1418745258209_3756">College football frenzy is peaking, soon to give way to a crescendo of basketball mania culminating in March Madness. For about 108 of the 128 <culink class="" culang="en" href="http://curiyo.com/en/topic/Division I (NCAA)" title="" style="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1418745258209_3759">Football Bowl Subdivision</culink> schools, this is a distinctly mixed blessing, as intercollegiate athletics pose a drain on school finances – one that is growing steadily over time.</div><div style="color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, Corbel, 'Bitstream Vera Sans', 'DejaVu Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5em; padding-bottom: 10px;" class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1418745258209_3760">Schools are in an athletic arms race, feeling the necessity to spend ever more funds on high coaches’ salaries and fancy facilities lest they suffer athletic humiliation and the wrath of irate alumni and fans. According to <em class="" style="">USA Today</em> data, more than 100 schools currently subsidize intercollegiate athletics by more than $10 million a year. The fact that the <culink class="" culang="en" href="http://curiyo.com/en/topic/University of Florida" title="" style="">University of Florida</culink> is spending some $7 million to lure a football coach away from <culink class="" culang="en" href="http://curiyo.com/en/topic/Colorado State University" title="" style="">Colorado State</culink> shows the financial dimensions of this are huge. It is no wonder that at the recent White House college summit, <culink class="" culang="en" href="http://curiyo.com/en/topic/Joe Biden" title="" style="">Vice President Biden</culink> blasted schools for elaborate spending on stadium sky boxes.</div><div style="color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, Corbel, 'Bitstream Vera Sans', 'DejaVu Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5em; padding-bottom: 10px;" class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1418745258209_3780">But as President <culink class="" culang="en" href="http://curiyo.com/en/topic/Ray Watts" title="" style="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1418745258209_3963">Ray Watts</culink> at the <culink class="" culang="en" href="http://curiyo.com/en/topic/University of Alabama at Birmingham" title="" style="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1418745258209_3779">University of Alabama at Birmingham</culink> recently showed, it does not have to be that way. He is eliminating the school’s football program...</div><div style="color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, Corbel, 'Bitstream Vera Sans', 'DejaVu Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5em; padding-bottom: 10px;" class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1418745258209_3780" dir="ltr"><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">...i</span><span class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1418745258209_3887" style="line-height: 1.5em;">ts stadium,</span><span class="" style="line-height: 1.5em;"> </span><culink class="" culang="en" href="http://curiyo.com/en/topic/Legion Field" title="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1418745258209_3886" style="line-height: 1.5em;">Legion Field</culink><span class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1418745258209_3885" style="line-height: 1.5em;">, which seats almost 72,000 people, has limped along with an average attendance recently of under 15,000 fans per game. UAB takes in about $9 million in revenues from its athletics programs but spends $27 million. That $18 million loss amounts to nearly $1,000 annually for each of UAB’s 19,000 students – the equivalent of about 13 percent of the school’s in-state tuition price. Getting rid of football will eliminate some of that loss, though the school will maintain several other sports. More importantly, perhaps, the school will not have to spend tens of millions on new facilities viewed critical to remaining competitive.</span><br></div><div style="color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, Corbel, 'Bitstream Vera Sans', 'DejaVu Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5em; padding-bottom: 10px;" class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1418745258209_3889">Contrast the UAB experience to <culink class="" culang="en" href="http://curiyo.com/en/topic/Ohio University" title="" style="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1418745258209_3888">Ohio University</culink>, where we have some experience. Like UAB, it has a so-so football team (6-6 record) and considers a game with 15,000 attending to be pretty typical, despite its stadium capacity of 24,000. Like UAB, it plays in the shadow of a football powerhouse that regularly draws over 100,000 to its games, currently fourth-ranked <culink class="" culang="en" href="http://curiyo.com/en/topic/Ohio State University" title="" style="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1418745258209_3950">Ohio State</culink>, playing UAB’s sister school Alabama in the <culink class="" culang="en" href="http://curiyo.com/en/topic/Sugar Bowl" title="" style="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1418745258209_3951">Sugar Bowl</culink>...</div><div style="color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, Corbel, 'Bitstream Vera Sans', 'DejaVu Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5em; padding-bottom: 10px;" class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1418745258209_3889"><br></div><div style="color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, Corbel, 'Bitstream Vera Sans', 'DejaVu Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5em; padding-bottom: 10px;" class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1418745258209_3889">...<span style="line-height: 1.5em;" class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1418745258209_3974">Like UAB, OU is forced to subsidize intercollegiate sports to the tune of about $18 million a year – again, nearly $1,000 for each of its roughly 20,000 students on the Athens campus (partially disguised as part of a “student activity fee”). Both universities have medical schools. The institutional similarities are striking.</span></div><div style="color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, Corbel, 'Bitstream Vera Sans', 'DejaVu Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5em; padding-bottom: 10px;" class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1418745258209_4135">While UAB President Watts is saying “enough is enough,” Ohio President <culink class="" culang="en" href="http://curiyo.com/en/topic/Roderick J. McDavis" title="" style="">Roderick McDavis</culink> is following a more conventional path: let’s spend more to try to break into the ranks of the athletically anointed. Facing similar facility problems as UAB, OU has built a $12.5 million indoor practice facility, primarily for the football team.</div><div style="color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, Corbel, 'Bitstream Vera Sans', 'DejaVu Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5em; padding-bottom: 10px;" class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1418745258209_3889"><span style="line-height: 1.5em;" class=""></span></div><div style="color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, Corbel, 'Bitstream Vera Sans', 'DejaVu Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5em; padding-bottom: 10px;" class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1418745258209_4136">It has also announced plans for an “academic center” costing more than $5 million, which will serve as a gated community of sorts where athletes but not ordinary students can study. Ostensibly, an existing study facility and the university’s library are insufficient for the athletes. Similarly, a decade ago the basketball coach made much less than McDavis, but now the coach is paid significantly more than he is...</div><div style="color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, Corbel, 'Bitstream Vera Sans', 'DejaVu Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5em; padding-bottom: 10px;" class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1418745258209_4136" dir="ltr"><i id="yui_3_16_0_1_1418745258209_4665">Food for thought? And then they bring up a familiar example:</i></div><div style="color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, Corbel, 'Bitstream Vera Sans', 'DejaVu Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5em; padding-bottom: 10px;" class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1418745258209_4136" dir="ltr"><culink class="" culang="en" href="http://curiyo.com/en/topic/Boise State University" title="" style="">Boise State</culink> has emerged in recent years as a football power, but compares poorly with the less football-oriented <culink class="" culang="en" href="http://curiyo.com/en/topic/University of Idaho" title="" style="">University of Idaho</culink>. Despite spending more than twice as much as Idaho on athletics ($43 million versus $19 million), it loses more, and in both the <em class="" style="">Forbes </em>and <em class="" style="">U.S. News</em> rankings of colleges, Idaho clearly surpasses Boise. Many university presidents fail to recognize the Iron Law of Sports: when someone wins a game, someone else loses. It is impossible for a large portion of schools to achieve primacy in any given sport.<i><br></i></div><div style="color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, Corbel, 'Bitstream Vera Sans', 'DejaVu Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5em; padding-bottom: 10px;" class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1418745258209_4136" dir="ltr"><i id="yui_3_16_0_1_1418745258209_5073">The whole thing:</i></div><div style="padding-bottom: 10px;" class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1418745258209_4136" dir="ltr"><font color="#444444" face="Lucida Grande, Verdana, Corbel, Bitstream Vera Sans, DejaVu Sans, sans-serif" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1418745258209_4867" class="" style=""><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1418745258209_4866" class=""><a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/views/2014/12/16/one-universitys-decision-drop-football-should-be-model-others-essay" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1418745258209_4863">One university's decision to drop football should be a model for others (essay) @insidehighered</a></span></font><br></div><div style="width:450px; font-family: 'Georgia', 'Times', 'Times New Roman', 'serif';margin-top:5px; margin-bottom: 5px; background-color: #ffffff;" contenteditable="false" id="enhancrCard_0" class="link-enhancr-attachment link-enhancr-element"><table class="link-enhancr-element" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" style="width:450px; height:170px; position: relative; display: block;"><tbody><tr class="link-enhancr-element"><td class="link-enhancr-element" colspan="8" style="height: 1px; background-color: #e5e5e5; font-size: 1px; border-collapse: collapse;"><div class="link-enhancr-element" style="height: 1px; background-color: #e5e5e5; font-size: 1px; line-height:0px;"> </div></td></tr><tr class="link-enhancr-element"><td rowspan="5" class="link-enhancr-element" style="width: 1px; background-color: #e5e5e5; font-size: 1pt; border-collapse: collapse;"><div class="link-enhancr-element" style="width: 1px; background-color: #e5e5e5; font-size: 1pt;"> </div></td><td class="link-enhancr-element" rowspan="5" style="vertical-align: middle; 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background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 0pt; border-collapse: collapse;"><div class="link-enhancr-element" style="width: 14px; background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 14pt;"> </div></td><td colspan="2" class="link-enhancr-element" style="height: 6px; background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 0pt; border-collapse: collapse;"><div class="link-enhancr-element" style="height: 6px; background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 6pt;"> </div></td><td rowspan="5" class="link-enhancr-element" style="width: 20px; background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 0pt; border-collapse: collapse;"><div class="link-enhancr-element" style="width: 20px; background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 20pt;"> </div></td><td class="link-enhancr-element" rowspan="5" width="1" style="width: 1px; background-color: #e5e5e5; font-size: 1pt; border-collapse: collapse;"><div class="link-enhancr-element" style="width: 1px; background-color: #e5e5e5; font-size: 1pt;"> </div></td></tr><tr><td class="link-enhancr-element" colspan="2" style="width: 100%; vertical-align: middle; font-family: 'Georgia', 'Times', 'Times New Roman', 'serif';"><div class="link-enhancr-text-part link-enhancr-element" style="line-height:16.5px; background-color: #ffffff; height: 135px; width: 245px;"><div class="link-enhancr-element" style="word-wrap: break-word; word-break: break-all;"><span class="link-enhancr-element icon icon-shrink link-enhancr-toggle"></span><span class="link-enhancr-element icon icon-close link-enhancr-delete"></span><a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/views/2014/12/16/one-universitys-decision-drop-football-should-be-model-others-essay" class="link-enhancr-card-urlWrapper link-enhancr-element" style="text-decoration: none !important; color: #000000 !important; line-height: 100%; font-size: 18px; display: block;"><span class="link-enhancr-element link-enhancr-card-title" style="margin: 0; font-weight: normal;margin-bottom: 3px; font-size: 18px; line-height: 21px; max-height: 43px; color: #000000; overflow: hidden !important; display: inline-block;">One university's decision to drop football should be a m...</span></a><div style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; color: #999999; max-height: 81px; font-family: 'Georgia', 'Times', 'Times New Roman', 'serif';overflow: hidden;" class="link-enhancr-card-description link-enhancr-element">College football frenzy is peaking, soon to give way to a crescendo of basketball mania culminating in March Madness. </div></div></div></td></tr><tr><td colspan="2" class="link-enhancr-element" style="height: 4px; background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 0pt; border-collapse: collapse;"><div class="link-enhancr-element" style="height: 4px; background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 4pt;"></div></td></tr><tr><td class="link-enhancr-element" style="vertical-align: middle; font-family: 'Arial', 'Helvetica Neue', 'Helvetica', 'sans-serif';"><div class="link-enhancr-element" style="font-size: 0pt;"><a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/views/2014/12/16/one-universitys-decision-drop-football-should-be-model-others-essay" class="link-enhancr-card-url link-enhancr-element" style="color: black; text-decoration: none !important;cursor:pointer !important;" target="_blank"><span class="link-enhancr-element link-enhancr-view-on" style="display: inline-block; 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