For this Civic Issues Blog, I have chosen to focus on how college sports reflect a broader cultural attitude towards sports in the US. As many of you know, America is a sports-centered culture. No other country has a day dedicated to salsa and a four hour football game with an elaborate halftime show, but the US does. The sports industry in the United States generated $69 billion in 2012, which is 50% larger than Europe, Africa and the Middle East combined. The entire global industry was worth $141 billion, and the US amounted half of that.

As Americans, we often plan our whole week around sports. Whether that be a kid’s soccer game or your favorite professional team, most Americans find that sports play some kind of a role in their daily lives. Sports are played year round in the United States, and it seems as though there is a sport out there for everyone. Infrastructure of sports fields and courts can also be seen throughout all communities in the US, big or small.

It can be argued that the US excels in athletics. This can be seen throughout the Olympic Games in history, and even within the education system. The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), is the governing body of college athletics in the United States. As I have discussed previously, collegiate basketball and football enterprises are gold-mines. The fifteen largest stadiums in the US are primarily football stadiums, and about half of that number have a capacity of over 100,000. To put this in perspective, Europe has no stadiums that exceed 100,000 in capacity, professional or not.

That’s how crazy we are about sports.

However, in some cultures, sports are seen as a distraction to academics, and athletes are often labeled as “dumb.” Although some Americans believe this to be true also, athletics can actually be beneficial to an athlete’s development, both academic and personal. In fact, the United States is known for its ability to strategically develop athletes from the ages 18 to 22 in collegiate athletics. This poses the athletes to become some of the best, most well-rounded individuals on the world stage. In the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, there were 110 former NCAA athletes and 21 current athletes across 10 sports and 13 countries.

Consequently, with the broad college sports culture in the American way of life, mass amounts of alcohol consumption prior to sports games has become a staple of the American college student’s “experiences.” This act, as I’m sure we are all aware, is called tailgating. Some say tailgating is pointless, and a waste of alcohol and good food. Others argue that it is a form of community building. What we do know, is that tailgating is an important part of the social scene at many universities. This is especially true for schools with competitive football teams. For many students, it is all about the experience, and factors like this can ultimately influence a student’s decision to attend the school.

The college sports culture of tailgating has even infiltrated the professional sports world, mainly the NFL. Die-hard fans will spend all day tailgating, grilling and chatting in order to hype themselves up for their favorite team’s big game.

Let’s think about that. Americans devote an entire day to drinking and eating in order to prepare for a sports game.I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with this culture. I am a die-hard Philadelphia Eagles fan myself, and I know Philly fans love to tailgate. I do think, however, it is important to recognize our values and culture and how we got to where we are today.

http://www.sportingnews.com/us/other-sports/news/how-the-us-became-a-sporting-culture/1vgv4kxl2459w1l6dvrbhev2er

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2012/10/04/tailgating-study-culture-history/1608741/