Will Winning Football Games Make a University Stronger Academically?

[LBowie]

<p>I don’t consider DIII “big time”. How often do you see DIII on TV? </p>

[Gator88NE]

<p>An interesting report on “The Sports Imperative in America’s Research Universities”.</p>

<p><a href=“http://mup.asu.edu/TheSportsImperative.pdf”>http://mup.asu.edu/TheSportsImperative.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>

Our perspective here is to neither celebrate nor muckrake the intercollegiate athletic enterprise but rather to understand the organization and operation of intercollegiate sports and assess their likely value for institutions with superior records of research and academic performance.

</p>

<p>

Instead, the media show the sports programs, the student-athletes, the coaches, the stadium expansions, the errors of commission and omission in sports management. This is the return on investment in college sports. While there is some benefit in terms of student recruitment and alumni interest that may lead to fund-raising opportunities, these do not justify the expense. The attention, the image, the media, and the university brand promotion provide the best justification for whatever investment in sports the university must make.

</p>

[PurpleTitan]

<p>@Jea828:</p>

<p>You also need spectators for big time sports.</p>

<p>Other countries may not care to watch college students (usually not the best athletes in a sport) play that much. In Latin America, several soccer clubs started as college teams but then spun off and professionalized. Something like the NCAA is strange and unique. College sports clubs in other countries usually had to make the choice to either go big time and join a professional league or stay small.</p>

[mom2collegekids]

<br>

<blockquote>
<p>The combination of big time sports and higher education is quite strange – that combo does not exist in any country except the U.S.</p>

<blockquote>
</blockquote>
</blockquote>

<br>

<p>So what? We are the education leaders. Everyone wants to go to school here. We don’t need to follow other countries’ examples. </p>

<p>Sports and education have become part of our culture…and we’re not changing.</p>

[PurpleTitan]

<p>LOL. Personally, I like the diversity. I like the fact that there are schools like CalTech/WashU/UChicago where sports aren’t emphasized and there are schools (of all sorts) where it is. More choices for everyone to find a school that is a good fit for them.</p>