A Conflicted Fan...

I love collegiate sports. I love the way fall Saturdays are consumed with more college football than a person can possibly take in. I love how in March, college basketball basically walks in like it owns the network television schedule. Though I'm not naturally the biggest baseball/softball fan, I'll gladly take in a game if my team, the Missouri Tigers, are involved. There's no better way to say it than to sipmly say this: College sports are awesome.


However, this morning, I ran across an article by Pat Forde on Yahoo Sports that once again stirred up an ongoing conflict I have as a sports fan.

In the article, Forde mentions the new facilities being built at the University of Oregon for the Ducks' football program. Forde writes:

"Oregon is dumping $68 million of Nike kingpin Phil Knight's money into a new 'football operations center.' Among the accoutrements you get for $68 mil, the Eugene Register-Guard reported, is a private hot tub and steam room for the coaches, 'each with a waterproofed video center . . . so they can watch video while taking a soak.'"

The money being used here, as I understand it, is primarily donor money, and I certainly don't think it my place to tell the head honcho of Nike how the recipients of his cash should use it. They can use that money for whatever purpose they mutually agree on.

Still, I can't help but wonder if this is just another symptom of what's wrong with college athletics, specifically in the world of football. It's hard, if not impossible, not to admit that college sports, as we know them, have gotten fiscally out of control.

A few stats of note:

• Urban Meyer, Ohio State football coach, will make $24 million over the next six years (that's guaranteed money, not including any bonus cash).
• In addition to all the other details of Penn State's mess, they now must also pay roughly $4.5 million in severance to assistant coaches fired when the new head coach came in and cleaned house.
• The University of Florida's athletic department's expenditures run in the neighborhood of $113 million.

These stats are just a sampling of the ridiculous amounts of money that universities have to shell out to have prominent athletic programs. Still, these teams I noted are just the "big boys," right? Surely it's only the top tier who spends this kind of money? True, but there's a developing trend in sports where smaller Division-1 FBS programs are trying to live like those at the top of the food chain.

When these smaller programs try to live as if they're the University of Texas or Alabama, the university is left to pick up the hefty price tag of their pursuits of prominence. Adam Weissman of The Atlantic reports that in 2010, only 22 of all FBS athletic programs turned a profit. He also reports that of the 120 FBS football programs, 51 were "in the red" with a median loss of almost $3 million. Where does money come from to cover that kind of cost? As an educator, I'm scared to ponder that question.

All of these figures, along with scandals like the one at Penn State or the USC/Reggie Bush debacle, are the worst aspect of the sports I love. I know that these kind of facts force me to face important truths, but as such a college sports nut, it's just far less than enjoyable to think about the fact that collegiate sports, at its core, is just another big business.

I don't want to watch a game knowing that it's all about cash. I want to believe that the triumphant moments I've watched such as Christian Laettner's buzzer-beater, Vince Young's single-handed takeover of the BCS championship game, or Boise State's stunning takedown of powerhouse Oklahoma were about the thrill of competition, the will to win, the drive to be the best...not about the almighty dollar. But, perhaps there's no room for such idealism in the market-driven world of college sports.

(From The Wall Street Journal back in 2007)

Posted with Blogsy