Dear Tax Payers & Students Thank You For Watching ESPN

Universities across the nation always prioritize athletic scholarships over any other athletics situation that may emerge, and as a student, it seems that Universities also prioritize athletes by upgrading their campus experience by giving them elite treatment in campus commodity (USA TODAY, 2013). As USA TODAY notes “Public Universities competing in NCAA Division I sports spend as much as six times more per athlete than they spend to educate students… (USA TODAY, 2013).” Apparently by increasing University spending on the athletic department, Universities are ensuring athletic scholarships, money grants, popularization and revenue from all of the port related merchandise, games and admiration an athletic department may obtain (Mckay, 2014). Logically, one may assume that Universities create some sort of a cycle in which they “invest” on the athletic department in order to obtain revenue during and after the concurrent sport season elapses (McKay, 2014). However, recent statistics done by the Delta Cost Project showed that from 2005 to 2010 less than a quarter of the 97% of schools made some sort of revenue from their initial investment, yet the school’s increased their investment per athlete by 64% (Guillespie, 2013). How is it then that Universities continue to increase their expenses in the athletics department when the revenues are not exceeding the investments? Or better yet, how can Universities afford to increase these investments if they are not making sufficient money to create a self-financed athletic department?

According to The NCAA 82% of Public Universities use part of Universities budgets, that is tuition, and state tax revenues in order to maintain the athletic department (Guillespie, 2013). As if focusing the educational based money on the athletics department is not cursed enough for students, many Universities across the nation, like The Louisiana State University and The University of Alabama, use University affiliated money to aid foundations and organizations sponsor University staff (GUillespie, 2013). For example, on October 2014 the University of Alabama and the Clemson Tide Foundation helped pay off Roll Tide’s Football Coach, Nick Saban’s, $3.1 million 8,759 square feet house, in which Coach Saban will reside after his retirement (Guillespie, 2013). How is it then, that students that pay $12,475.00 a semester on tuition only get six times less attention by the University than athletes? As an article published in Time Magazines states: “…administrators plead poverty when it comes to resources for faculty… (Guillespie, 2013).” Have sports gone from being embedded in America’s pride to being taxpayers and tuition payer’s worst nightmare?

Even though most Universities have not been so successful in creating a solid economical base for their athletics department, few top sports universities have luckily been able to break even in profits (McKay, 2013). Polls from 2010 and 2011 show that twenty-two of the top 120 Universities of the country manages to obtain some sort of profit, or at least create a self-sustained athletics department. However, as noted by The Daily Bantler, because such a small number of Universities were able to gain revenue a sort of sport, mainly football, hierarchy is forming among the top sport centered universities in the nation (McKay, 2013).

Even though American Universities are best-known world wide by its incomparable education and school pride, many studies show that today Universities are beginning to disperse their money to other areas of the school that perhaps don’t need as much concentration as the Universities perceive. After all, Universities are viewed as a mean to acquire education, whether it is by rights or by opportunity, education should be prioritized and distributed to all students –athletes or non- athletes equally—prep rallies, clubs and sports related programs and department should be handled form second hand perspective (USA TODAY, 2013). As former Professor and Co-Founder of the Coalition of the Intercollegiate Athletes, John Nichols from The Pennsylvania State University states: “the growing reliance by sports departments on University funds can mean in many circumstances one more assistant coach and one less English Professor teaching Shakespeare (USA TODAY, 2013).”

Work Cited:

Gillespie, Nick. “Football: A Waste of Taxpayers’ Money.” Dec 6 2013. Time Magazine. Web. Feb 25 2015.

McKay, Tom. “Upon Further Review, College Football Is a Giant Waste Of Money For Most Schools.” Oct 29 2014. The Daily Banter. Web. Feb 25 2015.

USA Today. “Division I Schools Spend More on Athletes Than Education.” SA TODAY. Jul 14 2013. Web. Feb 25 2014.

 

One thought on “Dear Tax Payers & Students Thank You For Watching ESPN

  1. TJ Greene

    I found it hard to believe that colleges are not turning a profit on athletic events. I’m not questioning you, you’ve done the research, it just shocks me. I was under the impression that colleges made an enormous profit from athletic events and apparel. If that were the case, I could understand why colleges would spend more on them. I’m not saying it’s fair, but I get it. If colleges would turn profits on athletics, why not treat the players a little better? They’re making money, and lots of it, for the school. Keep them happy or they’ll make money for a different school.

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