<p>At most of the big-time athletic schools (Big Ten, SEC, ACC, etc.) you have two sports (football and basketball) that pretty much subsidize every other sport the school offers. If money isn’t used for scholarships or operations, it probably goes into capital developments (stadiums, practice facilities, etc.)</p>
<p>Sports programs at a school like Michigan, Ohio State, Florida, etc. are probably self-sustaining, but I doubt they contribute anything to the overall operating budget of a university.</p>
<p>My niece has a Div 1 athletic scholarship (swimming) and she earned it by swimming 52 weeks a year, 360 days, swim coaching/clubs, rising at 5am for morning practice and again evening practice. All since she grade school. I doubt that anyone academically would have the same dedication-her cousin, my DS, a NMS scholar, 4.0 gpa HS, institutional grant at a renown university, fullride+ grad school is a true athletic wimp who can barely throw a frisbee.</p>
<p>She is heading towards National swim trials soon to beat 20 people with better times for an Olympic slot in '08. That type of dedication deserves something.</p>
<p>This is one of the best posts I’ve ever read on here and I’m quoting it because I agree with everything posted.</p>
<p>I’m also calling b/s on the full ride to those schools (and certainly not UCLA unless his name is David Klech. . .and I’m not even sure if he’s going full).</p>
<p>EDIT: Y2Kplaya, you’re still in high school, right? (1989 birthday). Wait 'til you play a collegiate sport at a DI school. If you think your football practices are bad now, the hardest day you had in high school will be your easiest day in college.</p>
<p>Since athletes are likely to have to devote a lot more time to practicing that they could have otherwise been using to study, they -would- be at somewhat of a disadvantage GPA/score-wise compared to the “nerds”.</p>
<p>Just how much leighway they should be granted, though, is up for debate. Personally, I think they are given too much. I think that the top colleges should be more focused and concerned on actual education rather than sports. You can blame our country for that. If there wasn’t such big money in sports and people didn’t idolize them the way they do, our country would probably be in much better shape than it is in many aspects.</p>
<p>Just think how different for the better our country would be if the amount of emphasis and money that is placed on sports was placed into intelligence, learning, and education instead.</p>
<p>“Just think how different for the better our country would be if the amount of emphasis and money that is placed on sports was placed into intelligence, learning, and education instead.”</p>
<p>Sports teams make lots of money for the respective areas. My high school football team made 6 figures this season for the high school, that resulted in new computers and a classlink system. A good college sports program can gross 9 figures for their respective colleges, will the smartest kid gross that much in one SEASON for a school. </p>
<p>Look at pro sports. They provide jobs and money for areas that are not profitable. </p>
<p>sorry, but your information is incorrect. The vast majority of college sports programs cost the college money on a **NET[/] basis. Only a few big time football and basketball programs raise enough $$ to cover the other sports, which, in all cases, are money losers. </p>
<p>Dunno about your HS, but after you deduct for coaches salaries, stadium upkeep, depreciation, lights, turf, etc., do you really believe that the program makes money? </p>
<p>btw: I’m a big supporter of HS and college sports and D1 scholarships, so not bashing intended; I just don’t like to see bogus ‘facts’.</p>
<p>“The study shows that Division I-A is the only subdivision or division of the NCAA in which the average athletics department operates at a profit. In 1995, the average I-A athletics program brought in about $15.5 million in revenue while spending about $14.3 million, creating an average profit of about $1.2 million. That number is up from the average profit of $660,000 in 1993, the last time member schools were surveyed.”</p>
<p>Thats the average, including crapy teams like Tulane and Buffalo. USC made 93 million.</p>
<p>I know Y2k’s last post wasn’t aimed at me, but from what I gather from the article, perhaps he should re-read the article that he posted a link to…</p>
<p>The first paragraph says Division I-A is making money, yes, but it also says that the other divisions are losing money, and a lot at that.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Beyond that though…</p>
<p>
This may be true, but consider this. If every athlete making over $200k a year had their enormous salaries halved, how many new computers could be bought for schools around the nation with that money then? I’d wager … millions. And that would just be the tip of the iceberg. I can’t even begin to fathom how much money is sunken into sports advertising, but i’m guessing it’s much more than that.</p>
<p>It’s GREAT that schools recruit kids with athletic ability for MONEY. If I was a kid who dedicated everything I had, every waking moment to something I loved, it would kill me to realize that I’m being offered a ride to a school just so I can roll in some cash. As much as it’s an opportunity, I’d also be used as a tool. It is a nasty generalization to say that people who play sports are inherently dumb with poor grades and stats. However, I can think of a handful of kids who actually meet this criteria AND are recruited. There are always exceptions to the rule. I highly respect all athletes, because sports are not just “cake.” However, I equally respect kids who wake up at 6am every morning to learn a new concept and better themselves intellectually.</p>
<p>the data is a decade old. Dontcha think the ncaa would publish more current studies if they support that position. Clearly they don’t bcos the data don’t exist.</p>
<p>Perhaps you should read further – your same study show a net LOSS. (Suggest a cost accounting class next.)</p>
<p>“But the profit cited includes money provided by the college or university to operate the athletics department, or institutional support. If institutional support is removed from the budget, the result is a $237,000 deficit, up from a $174,000 deficit in 1993.”</p>
<p>“This may be true, but consider this. If every athlete making over $200k a year had their enormous salaries halved, how many new computers could be bought for schools around the nation with that money then? I’d wager … millions. And that would just be the tip of the iceberg. I can’t even begin to fathom how much money is sunken into sports advertising, but i’m guessing it’s much more than that.”</p>
<p>This paragraph was dumb.</p>
<p>How many computers would their be if you cut lawyers salaries and doctors salaries? Get real. Those athletes provide entertainment, if not that many people wanted to be entertained then they would get paid less. I gather from your post you think athletes are over paid.</p>
<p>Well, first of all, Greek haven’t said that good body comes with a good spirit. Please, don’t cut words out of context, original phrase sounded: “Orandum est ut sit mens sana in corpore sano” which can be translated as "“You should pray for a healthy mind in a healthy body” (C) Wikipedia</p>
<p>Second, I don’t think that whole concept of “jock<->nerd” anticipation is needed. Smart people are good at sports. Maybe they don’t talk about academics all the time but you shouldn’t necessarily be talking about Fourier analysis all the time to be smart.
Thirdly, if they’re getting slightly lower GPA than others and are good at sports it means that they don’t have enough time to do assignments. Trust me, the last thing you want to do after three hours of mind-blowing practice is doing homework. But they still have good GPA because pure athletism wouldn’t get athlete into good college with 2.5 GPA.</p>
<p>Fourthly, don’t try to envy recruited athletes – they will have to live in a twice lesser time then you do and will get way less time for homework.</p>
<p>
According to Marxism economic theory, every wage that is not from criminal sources is earned honestly. Maybe genius with his 200IQ can bring entertaining and make lives of people more interesting? I doubt it.
So your wage determines how much people are willing to pay and how much you bring into society and you can’t say that athlete is overpayed.
No one is overpayed.</p>
<p>Let’s try changing the argument a little bit:
“I can’t believe that they give out academic scholarships…it’s so unfair! Here I am with a 3.8GPA and I have to pay my way, while some kid who gets a 4.0 get’s a free ride.”
Life is not fair!
You are going to find out through your entire life that various groups or individuals get special treatment. That is the way the world is. I have a good friend who had a full ride, Div I at a program that went to several bowl games and his scholarship was really a full time job playing football and he got to attend college for free during his limited time between practices. He had three weeks off during the year when there were not scheduled team activities…such is big time college sports. Those guys earn those full rides.</p>
<p>He ended up getting a good job out of his education, but he never had any dreams of getting in pro sports.</p>
<p>packers1 makes the most valid point…life is not fair, get used to it. </p>
<p>Everyone who receives some sort of scholarship (sport or merit) has done something to EARN it. What they’ve done is valued by somebody. There was a time when atheletic scholarships and merit scholarships didn’t exist. That changed because somebody thought a particular student was of extra value to the school over someone else. </p>
<p>If you have an issue it should be with yourself, what did you fail to do that they did? Not trying to be mean, just honest about it. You can’t place blame on someone else because a third party makes them an offer. </p>
<p>Besides if you had ANY idea of how close to slavery a college atheletic scholarship is, you’d feel sorry for the guy. The next four to five years aren’t his to choose, they’re somebody else’s. Life decisions will be made around the needs of the team, not the individual. God help you if you blow a knee and can’t play anymore, because in many cases you are “dead” to the program and at risk of losing your scholarship. </p>
<p>The life of a college athelete isn’t what you imagine it to be.</p>
<p>Opie;
Good point about the injury aspect. In virtually all cases, it’s no play - no pay. If you get hurt to the point that they don’t think you’ll be able to come back from it, you will lose your ride.
Plus: if you don’t play well enough you’ll lose it too. That just happened to a girl that we know. She had her tennis scholarship pulled because she couldn’t keep her place on the team.</p>
<p>It’s tough being a scholarship athlete. I wouldn’t want to do it.</p>
<p>Because he has the natural athletic abilities and he had (I can guarantee you that, my son is an athlete, so I know it first-hand) work his heart out to get the athletic scholarship. My son, for example, seldom sleeps more than 6 hours per night, most of the time less, since he has to combine his 20 hours a week training and his homework.
If you have intellectual abilities and work your heart out to get the grades, scores, etc, you get a merit scholarship
(again, my son’s experience shows that there is plenty of money around).
If you do not have either of these abilities, or simply cannot work hard enough, why to complain about unfairness?</p>
<p>BTW, nothing personal, I did not mean you as an example.</p>
<p>In fact, I know exactly who did get full rides to UCLA this year for track and field - it was six total athletes; two throwers who are also on the football team, a hurdler from Colorado, a pole vaulter from New York, a jumper from California, and Klech, who I mentioned earlier.
<3 inside information.</p>
<p>Athletics play an important role in boosting the fund raising for certain schools.
Alumni like to see that their school’s team beat their rivals etc. When alumni are happy they donate more $ to the school.
Case in point, the ice hockey coach at an unnamed top LAC in the Northeast told us that when the hockey team was losing, alumni called him weekly to find out why and ask how they could help. These alumni then raised 1million dollars to support the program–improve facilities and fund coaching etc. As this team has increased its success more $ has been funnelled to the school thus increasing other aid available to students. Guess these Wall Street types still like to brag that their alma mater’s ice hockey team is the best</p>