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Nearly All US Universities Lose Money on Sports

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Re: Nearly All US Universities Lose Money on Sports

#11

Post by parfe »

burgerbrain wrote: post #3

I will never understand what quality education and sports have in common. In fact, with the rate of brain-damage suffered by american football players, I suspect sports are actually a detriment to education, not even counting the resources they suck from it. EDIT: Another case against college sports, and sports scholarships: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/26/drexel-basketball-r...

I will never understand what quality education and sports have in common.

Ever seen 50,000 alumni show up on campus for a theoretical physics conference?

Re: Nearly All US Universities Lose Money on Sports

#12

Post by tokenadult »

parfe wrote: post #11
burgerbrain wrote: post #3

I will never understand what quality education and sports have in common. In fact, with the rate of brain-damage suffered by american football players, I suspect sports are actually a detriment to education, not even counting the resources they suck from it. EDIT: Another case against college sports, and sports scholarships: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/26/drexel-basketball-r...

I will never understand what quality education and sports have in common. Ever seen 50,000 alumni show up on campus for a theoretical physics conference?

Ever seen 50,000 alumni show up on campus for a theoretical physics conference?

And when those 50,000 alumni show up on campus, what do they do to make the education at that university better?

Re: Nearly All US Universities Lose Money on Sports

#13

Post by aspir »

burgerbrain wrote: post #3

I will never understand what quality education and sports have in common. In fact, with the rate of brain-damage suffered by american football players, I suspect sports are actually a detriment to education, not even counting the resources they suck from it. EDIT: Another case against college sports, and sports scholarships: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/26/drexel-basketball-r...

I've personally seen more 1 generation college attendees in my athletics career circle than not; they're not ignorant jocks trying to skate into the pros, they're trying to better their standing by any means necessary. Most athletes also understand that they "go pro in something other than sports," to steal the NCAA tagline.

Ask your alma mater's department heads, deans and development officers if sports matters. Research (even tech transfer) doesn't raise enough cash to fund our current university system. Tuition doesn't either; and state support (if applicable) doesn't get far either.

Donors provide the rest. The best way to butter up a donor is through university brand prominence. A non Ivy League school can't compete in the same fields as an MIT, Stanford, Cal Tech, etc. You have to increase your university brand through any respectable means necessary. Sports is often that angle.

Go ask your endowed profs if sports matters in any factor to their compensation. It's likely they'll admit that it helps, at minimum.

Re: Nearly All US Universities Lose Money on Sports

#14

Post by burgerbrain »

parfe wrote: post #11
burgerbrain wrote: post #3

I will never understand what quality education and sports have in common. In fact, with the rate of brain-damage suffered by american football players, I suspect sports are actually a detriment to education, not even counting the resources they suck from it. EDIT: Another case against college sports, and sports scholarships: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/26/drexel-basketball-r...

I will never understand what quality education and sports have in common. Ever seen 50,000 alumni show up on campus for a theoretical physics conference?

Excellent point. People showing up to a school for non-academic reasons clearly provide an academic benefit... Not.

I also haven't seen a theoretical physics conference gather dozens students late on a Friday night, but that doesn't mean kegs are good for education.

Re: Nearly All US Universities Lose Money on Sports

#15

Post by tokenadult »

Alex3917 wrote: post #5

Nearly all US universities lose money on education too. The average Ivy league school spends 3x more per student than it charges for tuition.

The College Results website

http://www.collegeresults.org/search1b.aspx?institutionid=16...

allows drilling down to a comparison of similar colleges to any college you care to name, and looking at a Finance and Faculty tab to see the spending per student at the college.

Re: Nearly All US Universities Lose Money on Sports

#16

Post by keiferski »

tokenadult wrote: post #12
parfe wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I will never understand what quality education and sports have in common. Ever seen 50,000 alumni show up on campus for a theoretical physics conference?

Ever seen 50,000 alumni show up on campus for a theoretical physics conference? And when those 50,000 alumni show up on campus, what do they do to make the education at that university better?

They pay for the university's existence.

Re: Nearly All US Universities Lose Money on Sports

#17

Post by burgerbrain »

aspir wrote: post #13
burgerbrain wrote: post #3

I will never understand what quality education and sports have in common. In fact, with the rate of brain-damage suffered by american football players, I suspect sports are actually a detriment to education, not even counting the resources they suck from it. EDIT: Another case against college sports, and sports scholarships: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/26/drexel-basketball-r...

I've personally seen more 1 generation college attendees in my athletics career circle than not; they're not ignorant jocks trying to skate into the pros, they're trying to better their standing by any means necessary. Most athletes also understand that they "go pro in something other than sports," to steal the NCAA tagline. Ask your alma mater's department heads, deans and development officers if sports matters. Res…

This is and always has been a terrible argument. Academic scholarships will always be a better use of money. There is no reason those first generation students can't get the attention of schools with academic excellence instead of sports, particularly if they are generally as bright as you claim.

Re: Nearly All US Universities Lose Money on Sports

#18

Post by absconditus »

aspir wrote: post #13
burgerbrain wrote: post #3

I will never understand what quality education and sports have in common. In fact, with the rate of brain-damage suffered by american football players, I suspect sports are actually a detriment to education, not even counting the resources they suck from it. EDIT: Another case against college sports, and sports scholarships: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/26/drexel-basketball-r...

I've personally seen more 1 generation college attendees in my athletics career circle than not; they're not ignorant jocks trying to skate into the pros, they're trying to better their standing by any means necessary. Most athletes also understand that they "go pro in something other than sports," to steal the NCAA tagline. Ask your alma mater's department heads, deans and development officers if sports matters. Res…

So basically if your school does not provide a great education then rely on sports to keep things going.

Re: Nearly All US Universities Lose Money on Sports

#19

Post by absconditus »

parfe wrote: post #11
burgerbrain wrote: post #3

I will never understand what quality education and sports have in common. In fact, with the rate of brain-damage suffered by american football players, I suspect sports are actually a detriment to education, not even counting the resources they suck from it. EDIT: Another case against college sports, and sports scholarships: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/26/drexel-basketball-r...

I will never understand what quality education and sports have in common. Ever seen 50,000 alumni show up on campus for a theoretical physics conference?

Were the Japanese forced into submission by a great football match?

Re: Nearly All US Universities Lose Money on Sports

#20

Post by InfinityX0 »

ajays wrote: post #8

One of the big reasons Universities compete in sports is to attract alumni donors. If you just look at it at a micro level, the direct expense on sports is probably more than the revenue from sports. But if you factor in alumni donations, then I've heard that the benefits far outweigh the costs. I was in a Division II school, and they made a big push to get into Division I. And the main reason they gave was to get al…

Ding ding ding. I went to a D3 school for football, and when considering a possible MBA, something I was looking at half jokingly, but half legitimately, was whether the school was large - because I thought it would make watching sports on TV for the rest of my life, and having true attachment, a lot more fun.

Undoubtedly, as I progress further in my career, that fervor would have grown with team success, and also made my attachment more real - while my current alma mater (Chapman University in Southern California) - would have fallen away from consciousness with no legitimate way to grab my attention.

Whether I make a donation to any school in the future is up for debate, and I am now not likely to get an MBA based on many of the points raised here and elsewhere - but the point made on this comment hits the nail on the head.

I find it extremely unlikely that I will ever donate to my small private school in Southern California - because the thoughts of how it's helped me depart with every passing second, and they have no way to get it back.

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