Universities Double Down on College Athletics, Students Pay The Tab, Tyler Webb, College Lawyer Blog
Thursday
April 28th,
2016
Mount
Pleasant, MI
In today's
world, college athletics have much greater implications than two teams competing for the love of
the game. Today, sports have evolved to become premier social events that feature
entertainment, celebrities, and a ton of money. In 2014 the NCAA, National Collegiate Athletic Association (the governing
body for intercollegiate athletics) grossed $912.8 million and that number is anticipated to increase with the popularity of college sports.
However, despite
the NCAA cashing in on college athletics, universities themselves are losing
money. According the NCAA's website, ncaa.org, only 20 of the 1,100 plus
institutions involved in the NCAA make money on college athletics. This is a huge cause for concern because it questions the model universities are using to determine their investment in college athletics. According to
an article that appeared on USA Today, in 2010, universities that participated
in D-1 (Division one) athletics that had a football program spent $91,000 per
athlete. This is seven times the spending per student which is at $13,000. Universities
find themselves in "spending" races in order to compete and keep with
other universities. Higher education is becoming increasingly competitive and
as other universities spend to make their sports programs more appealing,
competitors have to decide between increasing spending or potentially becoming
irrelevant.
Universities
are also opting to invest in athletics ahead of other social or academic
interests, and students are picking up the slack:
The University
of Cincinnati froze its tuition but it will invest more than 80 million, majority of
it borrowed, to expand their football stadium in 2015.
Miami University
has cut 50 million out of its overall budget but plans to raise 80 million from
private donors for sports scholarships and a new practice facility.
Northern
Kentucky University declined to build a new center to house its nursing students
and accommodate other growing programs but they have enough money to expand to
division one for sports; students pick up $8.5 million of the $10 million tab.
Former Ohio
State University president William Kirwan told USA Today "we're probably
headed for some sort of disruption where the schools with lesser access to
extensive revenue will have to find a different model," he said.
"Those who have the revenue will find a separate structure, whether it's
inside the NCAA or not."
Some schools
have already began to discuss leaving D-1 football altogether. For some schools, such
as Eastern Michigan University, participating in Division-1 is a losing
proposition that yields no positive outcome for its fans, faculty or students.
A new report released by the EMU highlights the importance of saving
students money instead of investing it in a “lost cause”. Howard Bunsis, an EMU
faculty member, helped write the report and confirmed that EMU raises very
little money for its football program and has some of the worst attendance in
the country. The report also
determined that each student pays almost $1,000 out of pocket to support athletics
at Eastern Michigan University. In order to remain competitive EMU will have to
invest more money in its sports programs which could create more debt and
expenses for EMU’s students.
As the price of
college continues to rise, and the popularity of college sports continues to increase university administrators will have to deal with the
issue of budget allocations. Universities will simply not be able to sustain
spending on both college athletics and areas of academic interest. Collegiate athletics are great events that bring alumni and currents students together, they require community involvement and create a sense of campus pride. However the cost of college athletics should not come at the expense of students or alternative academic investments that make the life for all students on campus better. Universities should be investigating in an ulterior model to that provides adequate funding for both academic and athletic ventures.
Tyler Webb
Editor-In-Chief, CLB
Senior Law Clerk, Levitt Law Firm
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