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Except for a few, elite sports schools the funding for sports comes, in large part, from student fees and the general academic fund. Athletics is a highly corr

Except for a few, elite sports schools the funding for sports comes, in large part, from student fees and the general academic fund. Athletics is a highly corrupting influence on the university. EDIT: It would be very hard to shift funding from sports to academics because it's a cultural thing now. People are much more readily accepting of spending x million dollars to build a new stadium than to build a new research facility.

anamax 17y ago
> Except for a few, elite sports schools the funding for sports comes, in large part, from student fees and the general academic fund. Citation or definitions needed. For example, while Stanford is elite in some ways, it isn't a sports school. However, its "big athletic programs" (football, basketball, baseball, and possibly tennis) are more than self-supporting via directed donations and tickets. The profits are used to fund less lucrative sports. Yes, including the newish football stadium.
- yequalsx 17y ago
  Well, citation is needed as well for the belief that sports brings in money. Do some research on the Google. Sports is a money loser for all but a handful of universities. You especially have to be careful when doing this research because universities are creative when it comes to accounting for sports expenditures. Your perception is almost entirely wrong.
  - anamax 17y ago
    I had access to Stanford's numbers. Its big ticket sports are profitable. The lesser sports aren't., although some are closer to break even than others. If Stanford has a loss in sports as a whole, it's because the lesser sports cost more than the profit from the big ticket sports. And yes, that includes the new football stadium and the newish tennis stadium.
- yequalsx 17y ago
  OK, I'll be generous and give a link. http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/archives/college_sports_a_money_loser/ http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/archives/college_sports_a_m... Do you have sources for the belief that sports pay for themselves?
  - smallblacksun 17y ago
    Repeal title 9, kill the women's sports that produce no revenue but have large costs, and the problem is solved.
    - yequalsx 17y ago
      You have not the slightest idea of what you are talking about. Research sports spending at colleges and you will find that except for a few schools football programs do not support themselves. Few sports program anywhere or any type pays for itself.
jgg 17y ago
> It would be very hard to shift funding from sports to academics because it's a cultural thing now. Sadly, you're probably right about this. Sports seem to have become so ingrained in the popular paradigm of what you do at a university that it would be impossible to change. Oh well.
jdminhbg 17y ago
"People are much more readily accepting of spending x million dollars to build a new stadium than to build a new research facility." Really? It appears to me anecdotally that the run-up in tuition has been accompanied by a run-up in university building programs. My alma mater, a large state-related research school with a big sports program, is nearly unrecognizable ten years after I graduated, with a new IS building, a new science building, a new business school building, and a new law school building.
- jimbokun 17y ago
  I read that Harvard spent tons of money on building projects they could no longer afford when the market tanked. None of them had anything to do with sports, if I recall correctly.
yardie 17y ago
It might be the case for your school but the funding for sports at my school came from alumni, the overwhelming majority of whom were former athletes from the school. The university did charge an athletic fee. This was to cover the publicly accessible tennis courts, basketball courts, football, baseball, and soccer fields. They also provide buses for the intramural teams. And part of it went to subsidize student football tickets to the nationally ranked football team, played in a stadium the football boosters paid for. I've watched the college next door to me transform from a small community college to a full fledged university. And they got there by having a serious athletic program.
- yequalsx 17y ago
  It's the case for almost all schools. Sports does not lead to increase in enrollment, generally speaking. Sports do not pay for themselves except at a few schools.
  - yequalsx 17y ago
    Wow, the ignorance here is amazing. Why is my comment being down voted? Only around 20 division I schools have their sports teams making money. All of the rest are subsidized by the general academic fund. Ignorance is bliss.

anamax 17y ago

> Except for a few, elite sports schools the funding for sports comes, in large part, from student fees and the general academic fund. Citation or definitions needed. For example, while Stanford is elite in some ways, it isn't a sports school. However, its "big athletic programs" (football, basketball, baseball, and possibly tennis) are more than self-supporting via directed donations and tickets. The profits are used to fund less lucrative sports. Yes, including the newish football stadium.

yequalsx 17y ago
Well, citation is needed as well for the belief that sports brings in money. Do some research on the Google. Sports is a money loser for all but a handful of universities. You especially have to be careful when doing this research because universities are creative when it comes to accounting for sports expenditures. Your perception is almost entirely wrong.
- anamax 17y ago
  I had access to Stanford's numbers. Its big ticket sports are profitable. The lesser sports aren't., although some are closer to break even than others. If Stanford has a loss in sports as a whole, it's because the lesser sports cost more than the profit from the big ticket sports. And yes, that includes the new football stadium and the newish tennis stadium.
yequalsx 17y ago
OK, I'll be generous and give a link. http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/archives/college_sports_a_money_loser/ http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/archives/college_sports_a_m... Do you have sources for the belief that sports pay for themselves?
- smallblacksun 17y ago
  Repeal title 9, kill the women's sports that produce no revenue but have large costs, and the problem is solved.
  - yequalsx 17y ago
    You have not the slightest idea of what you are talking about. Research sports spending at colleges and you will find that except for a few schools football programs do not support themselves. Few sports program anywhere or any type pays for itself.

jgg 17y ago

> It would be very hard to shift funding from sports to academics because it's a cultural thing now. Sadly, you're probably right about this. Sports seem to have become so ingrained in the popular paradigm of what you do at a university that it would be impossible to change. Oh well.

jdminhbg 17y ago

"People are much more readily accepting of spending x million dollars to build a new stadium than to build a new research facility." Really? It appears to me anecdotally that the run-up in tuition has been accompanied by a run-up in university building programs. My alma mater, a large state-related research school with a big sports program, is nearly unrecognizable ten years after I graduated, with a new IS building, a new science building, a new business school building, and a new law school building.

jimbokun 17y ago
I read that Harvard spent tons of money on building projects they could no longer afford when the market tanked. None of them had anything to do with sports, if I recall correctly.

yardie 17y ago

It might be the case for your school but the funding for sports at my school came from alumni, the overwhelming majority of whom were former athletes from the school. The university did charge an athletic fee. This was to cover the publicly accessible tennis courts, basketball courts, football, baseball, and soccer fields. They also provide buses for the intramural teams. And part of it went to subsidize student football tickets to the nationally ranked football team, played in a stadium the football boosters paid for. I've watched the college next door to me transform from a small community college to a full fledged university. And they got there by having a serious athletic program.

yequalsx 17y ago
It's the case for almost all schools. Sports does not lead to increase in enrollment, generally speaking. Sports do not pay for themselves except at a few schools.
- yequalsx 17y ago
  Wow, the ignorance here is amazing. Why is my comment being down voted? Only around 20 division I schools have their sports teams making money. All of the rest are subsidized by the general academic fund. Ignorance is bliss.