Post by sader1970 on Jun 20, 2019 15:09:32 GMT -5
At the suggestion that this might be a more fitting to have it own thread, I will re-post my original question here:
A subsequent poster mentioned Mt. Ida and Anna Maria but I was thinking bigger than that. Outside of mostly large state universities, the semi-pro/unofficial minor league basketball and football programs with multi-million dollar revenues come from that group of schools where enrollments are 10, 15, 20,000+. Yes, Ivy League schools have the deep pockets to absorb the losses but the vast majority don't have those resources. That includes semi-elite colleges in the Patriot League. Especially if they come under even more intense pressure to hold the costs of tuition down, athletics might have to be sacrificed. I always thought the good-will generated from collegiate sports for alums and neighboring communities was worth some intangible amount. But having read Phreek's and others' posts about the "clock of invisibility" that collegiate athletics has been wearing for some time, when (or if) will someone in authority say: "no mas?"
What's the likelihood that in 15-20 years, smaller colleges and universities, especially those that don't happen to have billion dollar endowments, simply say: "You know, it's nice that some of the kids get to play their favorite sport after high school but we are in the academic business of educating people and we simply can't afford to lose so much money and the [lack of] publicity that gets our good name out there isn't happening, so on a cost/benefit basis, we need to discontinue varsity sports. [If] we have facilities for the students to work out, have a pick-up game of basketball and some tennis courts, that's great."
I know, this sounds like Fr. Brooks on steroids, but I really wonder when/if this might happen. Thoughts?
I know, this sounds like Fr. Brooks on steroids, but I really wonder when/if this might happen. Thoughts?
A subsequent poster mentioned Mt. Ida and Anna Maria but I was thinking bigger than that. Outside of mostly large state universities, the semi-pro/unofficial minor league basketball and football programs with multi-million dollar revenues come from that group of schools where enrollments are 10, 15, 20,000+. Yes, Ivy League schools have the deep pockets to absorb the losses but the vast majority don't have those resources. That includes semi-elite colleges in the Patriot League. Especially if they come under even more intense pressure to hold the costs of tuition down, athletics might have to be sacrificed. I always thought the good-will generated from collegiate sports for alums and neighboring communities was worth some intangible amount. But having read Phreek's and others' posts about the "clock of invisibility" that collegiate athletics has been wearing for some time, when (or if) will someone in authority say: "no mas?"
