4 ms·

Sports programs in US schools are quite remarkable. They clearly bring in a lot of revenue for the schools and it seems to me that's a good thing. The bad thin

Sports programs in US schools are quite remarkable. They clearly bring in a lot of revenue for the schools and it seems to me that's a good thing. The bad thing is everything having to do with the student athletes. So why not just make college sports professional. Just like the NFL and the NBA, this would simply be another league, made up of college branded teams. Ah, but we can't do that, we can't call a spade a spade. Society has to maintain a charade. It's like collectively we're in the closet. And we're very passionate about college sports but we just can not get out of the closet and say fuck it, just make the sports program professional.

yummyfajitas 17y ago
Only a few schools make money off the football team, for example UTexas and Duke. Most lose money on sports.
- pj 17y ago
  I'm not sure this is true. I asked someone in my university's donation department and they said whenever the football team wins, it's like a hurricane of donations coming through the door.
- ShabbyDoo 17y ago
  I suspect that many externalities, both positive and negative, are ignored (sometimes selectively) when schools make statements about the profitability of a sports program. A few months ago, I was surprised to learn that the daughter of my wife's friend was not accepted to Ohio State. She was an in-state resident with a 23 on her ACT. Hardly a stellar score, but above the National average. Back in my day (15 years ago), she would have been rubber-stamped. Apparently, OSU was able to parlay its success on the football field into lots of undergrad applications. So, they were able to become more selective. This may be the start of a positive feedback loop that results in a reputation more like U of M than some random state college. [No, I don't think reputation is everything. But, if that's what they wanted to improve, sports may have been a very efficient mechanism for all the wrong reasons.]

yummyfajitas 17y ago

Only a few schools make money off the football team, for example UTexas and Duke. Most lose money on sports.

pj 17y ago
I'm not sure this is true. I asked someone in my university's donation department and they said whenever the football team wins, it's like a hurricane of donations coming through the door.
ShabbyDoo 17y ago
I suspect that many externalities, both positive and negative, are ignored (sometimes selectively) when schools make statements about the profitability of a sports program. A few months ago, I was surprised to learn that the daughter of my wife's friend was not accepted to Ohio State. She was an in-state resident with a 23 on her ACT. Hardly a stellar score, but above the National average. Back in my day (15 years ago), she would have been rubber-stamped. Apparently, OSU was able to parlay its success on the football field into lots of undergrad applications. So, they were able to become more selective. This may be the start of a positive feedback loop that results in a reputation more like U of M than some random state college. [No, I don't think reputation is everything. But, if that's what they wanted to improve, sports may have been a very efficient mechanism for all the wrong reasons.]