Big Men on Campus Cut Down to Size
In fact, Division I athletics is one big bubble: Even during the good times, few programs made money. In 2006, only 19 universities turned a profit on their athletic programs. It's almost always a losing bet -- and now, obviously, an unsustainable one. Only football and basketball are money-makers, and pay for those other sports that operate at a loss. For example, the average Division I baseball team loses nearly $700,000 a year -- the most of any men’s sport, according to the NCAA.
As a result of the recession, the debt is finally coming due, all because of dwindling donations, empty seats, and uncertain sponsorship deals. The same financial troubles being felt at the professional level are arising on campus. There's bound to be a consolidated landscape for college athletics, perhaps with a pronounced drop-off after the top-tiered programs.
This year alone, at least 13 Division I athletic departments have announced they're eliminating sports, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education. In those cases, 18 different sports are being scratched, including baseball, softball, soccer, track, and volleyball. Teams with large rosters that bring in little revenue are usually the first to go -- and even cheerleading squads are being reduced, or jettisoned entirely.
Even big-time sports programs -- which have only cut around the edges until now -- may be forced to use draconian measures.
“We have a huge question mark in our industry as to how much we will all be impacted,” Jamie Pollard, athletic director at Iowa State University, who has studied athletics finances, told the Chronicle of Higher Education. “My take on it is that over the next year we’ll see a lot more sports get dropped if the economy plays out the way it has so far.”
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So I get punished for having a brain, but no athletic ability????
unfair as always
My solution has always been and still is
If you are drafted by NFL, NBA, baseball, hockey or other professional team then you pay the college for training them - simple hey???
and this should go into acedemic schalarships ONLY
1. freshman - pay $100,000
2. sophmore - pay $75,000
3. junior - pay $50,000
4. senior - pay $25,000, $50,000 if they don't have a degree - idea behind scholarships??
need a new funding source - well here it is
provided of course it goes to needy students and not athletes with no brains
I'm tired of seeing so many former students balloon up after college and cost us so much in health care costs. The athletic programs corrupt the academic side and the athletes are pampered. I hope all student bodies vote out the fees and boycott games so they can save money. Hopefully (wishfully?) they will turn to more productive pursuits. All this is part of how athletics is the opiate of the masses in the USA.
