This is a very interesting article although it has little to do with public finance and more about finance of universities and sports. It is very interesting to see the differences between big time division 1 schools and the smaller ones. The big programs can afford to spend millions on their sports because they receive much more in return. Do you think that there should be a limit on how much a team can spend on sports and focus more on academics or is it ok for a team to spend millions on sports when they receive more than what they spend in return?
I believe schools should be allowed to spend money as they please. With that said, they shouldn't be taking any money away from academics and putting it into the sports programs. The reason these programs are so large now is because they are able to develop their own revenue and a lot of it. For example, whatever revenue Michigan receives purely from the sale of football merchandise, the football program should be entitled to that revenue because it was football, not the University of Michigan as an academic institution that brought in the revenue.
ReplyDeleteI think that it is okay for the schools to spend their money on the sports programs, especially because they will receive more than what they put into it in return and they do use that money to fund things other than themselves. However that they shouldn't take any money away from academic, especially considering at some of these big schools the athletes make up only a minority percentage of the student body.
ReplyDeleteI agree. Schools should be able to spend money on sports programs as much as they want as long as they are not neglecting other programs.
DeleteI agree that sports programs can be great for a school's revenue. And I know that at the Division I level at some schools the football and men's basketball programs provide funding for multiple other sports that do not bring in revenue. But I think that the money involved in some of these programs has reached a ridiculous high. The sports industry at that level is for pure entertainment while the academic programs that will make more of a difference in the world do not have enough funding. One quote from the article, “In China and other parts of the world, there are no gigantic stadiums in the middle of campus. There is a laser focus on education as being the major thing. In the United States, we play football.” I think that is one reason why the United States is starting to lag behind China in many areas of education. Although I am a sports fan, I believe that this is a problem in our country that we might need to address.
ReplyDeleteI guess in my opinion why would they not spend so much money on their sports programs when its their sports programs that make them so much money? I think its a great investment for college's.
ReplyDeleteIf they have money, and the money is theirs to do what they want with it, then it's virtually impossible to try and persuade someone that academics should trump athletics. Whether right or wrong, athletics brings in more money. #boombaby
ReplyDeleteI agree, Mike. I don't think that they big schools should have a cap put on their athletic budget because it brings in such a large amount of money for them every year. #boombaby
ReplyDeleteI agree with a lot that was said above, it seems wrong to tell schools were they can and can't spend their money, especially in departments that add so much value to a college. However, sports often overshadow academics at many schools, and that sadly seems to have become a fact rather than a something that needs to be addressed.
ReplyDeleteI feel by putting money into the athletic programs it helps bring attention the the school as a sort of advertising which will ultimately improve the school and help it grow.
ReplyDeleteI believe that school should not hesitate to spend the money as long as there's a return on investment. These D-1 school are not just throwing away money. They're rather making more money from their investments.
ReplyDeleteThe big time D-1 programs, especially in the case of football, have fully transitioned in big businesses. The money made in these games is absurd. Wonder why there are still argument-provoking and never-satisfying bowl-games? The revenues remain ungodly. It's a business, a huge business. Still unconvinced? Look at the coaches' salaries. Just in the given article, Urban Meyer is said to be paid $4 million a YEAR. That would land him in the top 8 salaries for NFL coaches. (http://www.coacheshotseat.com/SalariesNFLCoaches.htm) What's even more astounding, to me, is the fact that these players who spend all day training in order to "put on the show" are forbidden from being paid. Lets be real - these star athletes go to their school to play their sport and to help win games and bring in the cash for the university.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you. This business is nicely set up for the few to finincially benefit from the "show". But I disagree with the idea of paying D-1 athletes. Supporting them with tuition, uniforms, transportations, etc. is totally understandable. But once these players start to receive salaries from their universitites, it would affect the point of focus of sports. There's a beauty in dedicating so much for he university team and that's one big difference between the professional athletic world.
DeleteSo where should this excess amount of money be redistributed? Should we all beomce coaches?