Europe and Collegiate Athletics

This week’s civic issue blog post will be a fairly open topic. I do not have a specified stance on this issue; rather, I would like to present some ideas about the future status of collegiate athletics in the United States. America is one of the few countries, if not the only country, with athletics heavily tied to its educational system. Millions of dollars are pumped into collegiate programs each year, and in many cases, these programs drive the reputation of the university it is supported by.

Let’s look at another system this is fairly popular around the world, especially in Europe. In Europe, collegiate athletics is almost completely nonexistent. There are few athletic scholarships, and the universities’ reputations are based purely on its academic prowess and overall success, not with respect to the athletic programs. So you may be asking yourself, “How are there no college sports in Europe?” It’s fairly simple. Athletics are basically independent of the education systems. Professional sports teams are fed from club teams’ farm systems. If an individual is exceptional at his or her respective sport, he or she will most likely be entered into a club system and aim for the professional system, which may be many years down the road, rather than pursuing a chance to play a sport at a collegiate level. At a young age, an athlete will enter these systems and develop over many years for a chance to play at the professional level. In the United States, collegiate athletics is often used as a stepping stone for joining professional sports teams. In Europe, this extra step is eliminated.

Dr. David Ridpath is an associate professor of sports administration at Ohio University, and he is currently in Germany studying the European sports system. He has raised many potential questions about the current system in the United States. He said, “Why do we have athletics attached to the educational system in America, specifically at colleges and universities? … is there another potential way to have developmental athletics in America that either complements some of the intercollegiate athletic system or takes it over completely?” Additionally, Richard Davies, who teaches sports history at the University of Nevada, helps you question the system that we have grown so accustomed to over the years by saying, “Higher education in the United States is the only (educational) system in the world that has assumed the responsibility of entertaining the public.”

I’m not suggesting we should get rid of the NCAA completely tomorrow and adapt the European system immediately. However, I think we should all question whether the current system we have here in America is beneficial to our educational system and athletics to the fullest extent. Some collegiate athletic teams have graduation rates just over 50%. Athletes often seem used by the NCAA’s system in certain circumstances. Often, athletes are discouraged from majoring in certain fields by coaches regardless of their interests because of the time commitment of athletics in college (this occurred to one of my friends from high school).

The NCAA has been on the ropes in recent news, and it seems like there may be changes in the collegiate athletic system in America in future years. Could the European system be a model for the changes that might be necessary in coming years? I guess we’ll only find out with time.

http://buckeyextra.dispatch.com/content/stories/2014/06/03/ridpath-fix-for-system-might-be-in-europe.html

http://www.european-athletics.org/imgml/design/logo.jpg