If you’ve been paying close attention to the world of higher education, you might have heard the latest news. No, it has nothing to do with student protests over the war between Israel and Gaza. Or the naming of another university president.
It’s about the fact that Florida State University’s football team went undefeated this season and yet it still won’t qualify for a shot at the national championship.
But if you’re like me, you might be asking: What the heck does this have to do with the supposed real mission of college — namely, educating young people?
Not that I’m a person who doesn’t follow sports — baseball is a particular obsession of mine. But I follow professional sports. The student version holds no appeal for me: It’s a bit like obsessing about minor-league baseball when the major-league version is just as accessible.
But it’s also deeper than that: I find something inherently distasteful about glorifying athletics within the halls of academia. It’s one thing for, say, the Dallas Cowboys to be all about the game — that’s their sole purpose. But Florida State University should be known for what it teaches, be it its renowned criminal-justice program or its top-ranked film school that has produced some Oscar-caliber talent.
It’s no secret why universities put such an emphasis on sports, especially their football and basketball teams. Naturally, it has to do with money. According to a recent USA Today ranking, 22 schools each took in more than $150 million in revenue (think lucrative television deals) from their athletic programs. And the money is getting bigger than ever: Almost a decade ago, just one school in the all-important SEC division topped that $150 million mark, according to one analysis.
Let’s also not forget how sports programs can serve as a rallying point for alumni and other school supporters, which means they can generate a hefty amount of contributions. One 2012 study found that winning five more games in a college football season can result in a 28% uptick in donations to a school — or $682,000 in real-dollar terms. It can also result in more high-school students applying to the college.
Let’s face it: We’re a country that likes its sports — and likes its winning sports teams even more. Universities have simply found a way to capitalize on that. Or as Tom Peeling, a former journalistic colleague of mine who spends much of his Saturdays in the fall watching college football (and especially Penn State football — it’s his alma mater), put it to me, it’s all about using sports as a PR vehicle for schools.
“If your name is out there, it’s good,” he says.
But I question if the end justifies the means. And I’m far from alone in thinking that.
“Let’s face it: We’re a country that likes its sports — and likes its winning sports teams even more. Universities have simply found a way to capitalize on that. ”
Craig Meister, a college admissions consultant, bristles at the mere idea that so many college students devote their Saturdays to cheering on their football team when they could be doing other things — like, um, studying. “The time people spend rooting or tailgating is time they’re not focused on academics,” he says.
Iliya Rybchin is a U.S.-based partner at Elixirr, a global management consulting firm, and works with sport businesses as part of his job. But even he finds the emphasis on college athletics a bit much.
“We’ve all seen countless stories of schools spending tens of millions on new state-of-the-art football stadiums,” he says. “When was the last time we saw a story about a school spending even $100,000 on a new computer lab, maker studio, or robotics program?”
Let’s not even get into the fact that student athletes — the ones who theoretically stand to benefit the most from college sports programs — are being given the short shrift by many measures. While universities rake in millions of dollars off these students’ efforts, the young athletes often receive little to no financial gain. The situation started to change in 2021 — thanks to a Supreme Court ruling — but there’s much more that needs to be done. The issue was even the subject of a U.S. Senate hearing in October.
I can hear the naysayers say that my points disregard the notion of sports and school spirit. I mean, it would be great to fill a concert hall and support the student orchestra — “Give that Beethoven your all!” — but for most people, it’s just not the same thing as piling into a stadium and celebrating each touchdown. Those Saturdays in the fall mean a great deal to a university community.
Still, I say college sports are increasingly subverting the college ideal for the sake of the almighty dollar. And I say this as someone who admittedly didn’t worry too much about academics during my four years in the world of higher ed. But I read my Plato, studied my Shakespeare (I majored in English) and advanced my world just enough to feel like there was a point to it all.
And that point had nothing to do with winning a football game.
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