No other country on the planet does college sports like the
US does. We put huge amounts of
resources into making college sports happen. We build stadiums that can hold over 114,000 people (The Big
House), which is the largest college football stadium in the nation, and one of
the largest football-only stadiums in the world. The University of Michigan football program ranks first in
NCAA history of both total wins and winning percentage. Our men’s ice hockey team has won nine
national championships, and our men’s basketball team has appeared in four
Final Fours. A lot must go into
making this all happen. At
Michigan, which is the highest level of college sports, we see an intersection
of commercialism and educational goals. As a result of this intersection, what happens to our resources
and more importantly our student athletes? Clearly we want to be the best, but
how can a university make this happen?
Michigan is a Division I FBS school. In my Sport Management class, I learned
that the business model of typical DI FBS schools is to sink their resources
into the two most commercialized sports: Football and men’s basketball. They do this with the goals of
generating enough money for the sport itself to be self-sustained and
generating enough money to fund the entire athletic program. However, the reality is that only about
70 out the 120 FBS schools break even or have a surplus, and only 22 athletic
departments were self-sufficient last year (of course both of these statistics
include Michigan). In reality,
college sports is just not a moneymaking thing for most universities. So why do universities put so much of
their resources into athletics? Is
this good for the school and the students?
As a result of this business model, there are different
expectations for student athletes. Their academic requirements: Athletes often do not have a
choice in majors. Because they
have to maintain academic progress, they typically get funneled into different
majors. How many student athlete
engineer or business students have you seen? I’m sure not many.
These athletes also usually have extensive schedules, and therefore
cannot spend as much time on their studies. They have tutors and athletic-run assistance facilities. Of course these are great resources, but
I think that this just further isolates the student athlete from the student
population.
Division I schools use their sports to entertain their
campus and a national audience.
They work to attract students, attention, and generate the dollars. The NCAA is considered an “educational
organization” because it is made up of education institutions (conferences,
organizations, etc). But is
the NCAA really promoting education?
Or is it promoting sports?
The sports industry is so caught up in promoting college
sports that they do not necessarily do what is best for the student
athletes. Of course student
athletes take regular courses, but are they getting the same education and
opportunities as regular students are?
Are they here to play their game, or are they here to receive an
education? I’m not really sure
what the answers to these questions are.
I think that the balance between commercialization and education is
extremely difficult to work with.
I give a lot of credit to student athletes at big-time universities and
I would love to know what they think.
-Brooke Kranz
There really is a fine line between being a student or an athlete. Many schools seem to reverse the term "student-athlete" into the reality that they are "athlete-students." While there is so much money generated from amateur athletes, I really think they have no room to complain and it doesn't matter as much rather they are here to get an actual education or not. When they sign their letter of intent to play for a college, they should know what they're getting into. In exchange for a free education, they have to play a sport for a few years, not a bad trade off. Whether they take advantage of getting an education or just focus on their sport is their choice. It's the same as many college students, say your parents are paying for your college expenses like many students at Michigan, they expect you to get an education but its your choice to pick a productive major and/or go to class. You may rather spend your time having fun socially just like athletes may spend their time on their sport as opposed to their academics. It is a flawed system that many people may choose to abuse or exploit but that's the reality of it.
ReplyDeleteHey Brooke.
ReplyDeleteI agree that there is a fine line that many FBS schools tow when trying to balance the entertainment of college sports and education. So far, the NCAA and its participating schools have not done the best job. Some of the NCAA's policies that I disagree with have hindered the development of the STUDENT-athlete. Nevertheless, I think that some of the issues are societal. We put so much emphasis on college athletics, treating it as a professional sport, demanding professionalism from student athletes, yet we berate them when they misstep or act in a way that we believe isn't consistent with the ideal student-athlete.
Michigan is one of the few schools that does a decent job in balancing athletics and academics, and I think we have a responsibility to share that knowledge with other institutions.