Athletics Is a Rip-Off

~ Clarissa

I will never become Americanized enough to understand the US obsession with sports. Don’t get me wrong, I have enjoyed a good game of soccer or hockey both on TV and live. What I don’t get, though, is why sports need to invade every aspect of human existence in this country. Athletic programs of US colleges end up being a huge rip-off no matter what they do:

Syracuse University has decided to leave the Big East Conference for the Atlantic Coast Conference, which has large payout for members. But Syracuse is bound by its contract with the Big East to pay a $7.5 million exit fee. The university is planning to allocate that bill across the institution.

So now every department will suffer because the Athletic Department wants to get more money but refuses to invest anything into the program.

But The Syracuse Post-Standard reported that both student and faculty groups are asking why the athletics department shouldn’t pay the $7.5 million, and spare other departments cuts. A petition says: “In light of the fact that the Athletic Department is expected to receive an annual increase from the ACC in excess of $10 million per year, we endorse the resolution of the University Senate and Senate Budget Committee recommending that the $7.5 million Big East exit fee be paid fully by the Athletic Department and not out of student tuition.”

Can you believe these losers at the Athletic Department? They want to get all the benefits but pay for none of the costs of this arrangement. And what is even more egregious, the administration seems to be supporting them. I wonder why I never see departments of Foreign Languages or Anthropology demand that the entire university invest millions of dollars into something that will benefit them.

I might be naive but I will never understand why, instead of all these fake Conferences with enormous amounts of money and athletes who are barely literate but pretend to be students, universities can’t have big, beautiful facilities where people come to practice sports without all of these official, pompous, billion-dollar issues.

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Published by Clarissa

16 thoughts on “Athletics Is a Rip-Off”

    1. At least, at this university where I am now we are not forced to give passing grades to students who have zero knowledge but who are on some team. Here, student athletes have to prove they are good students to remain on the team. That’s something already.

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  3. Syracuse is crazy thinking that the cost should be split across the college. I’m glad someone stood up to the administration. I hope it does some good.

    I just bought a used book called “Beer and Circus:How Big-Time College Sports Is Crippling Undergraduate Education.” The book is over a decade old, but I figured I’d give it a read for the fifty-cent price tag. That goes to show how valued arguments against sports are.

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  4. I think the argument is that a successful high-profile athletics department is good advertising for the university, so more students apply, making the university appear more selective, allowing them to grow the undergraduate population (if they want), and/or allowing admission of a higher fraction of “better” students (which is theoretically better for the academic departments). Even if that is true (I think my current Uni. had a 50% increase in out of state applicants the year our football team did freakishly well, which is where the money is for a school that subsidizes in-state tuition), I don’t really agree with the strategy… but that’s the excuse the admins use for saddling us with the costs of the athletic department.

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    1. Great article! I know Purdue very well because it’s N.’s alma mater, and the sad state of many academic buildings is a disgrace.

      Things were even worse at Yale where the language departments were housed in this crumbling building that we shared with a diner. It was impossible to work in my office because it stank of greasy food and the orders of “Tuna on rye! Double cheeseburger!” went up straight into my office.

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  8. Im thinking just get rid of the sports and the spin off financial benefit. You will probably get so many more people applying for university(and making money for that institution) because of their intellectual capabilities. Afterall, we know that the vast majority of people would so prefer to watch a play or listen to a philosopher if given the chance.

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  9. I think college athletics are great, so long as there is no money involved. I went to a school where athletic ability was the opposite of what we were known for (there was a documentary made about the epic losing streak for one of our teams), and I played Division 3 sports the entire time I was there (where D3 means no athletics scholarships can be awarded). I had a lot of fun playing, and I found it to be a great method of stress relief. The athletic program’s philosophy was that sports were for fun, and you should work hard at them while you’re at practice, but they are not the reason you went to school. I feel that is the only healthy way to approach athletics in an academic setting.

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  10. I think college athletics are great, so long as there is no money involved(anon)

    If you live in a capitalistic/consumeristic country you might want to move.

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    1. That is the single most idiotic thing that I have ever had the misfortune of reading. Seriously, communism is bad therefore academic departments should subsidize football teams?
      Have you been drinking?

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