Collegiate Athletic Culture

The belief that new facilities bring in better recruits was tested by the research into the subject. Although new facilities did attract more initial interest from recruits (Schneider, 2012) the final decision about which school to attend came down to other different factors. In the study of “The impact of Athletic Faculties on the Recruitment of Student Athletes” college athletic prospects were asked why they choose the college they did. With factors such as playing time, location, tradition, education, facilities, teammates, and school color to name a few, the results were as follows. Non-Scholarship athletes that had no option to receive finical aid from the school they planned on attending, like the ones in division III, had top five factors of 1) playing time, 2) social life, 3) Education, 4) Location and 5) Financial Aid. Not until after the top ten did weight room and locker rooms came into effect. In another study it was shown that scholarship athletes in Division I were motivated by completion and achievement, while in division III the main motivator to play was the “experience” or the social

College is a time for young people to develop and grow not only in their education, but social aspects as well. One of the biggest social scenes found around college campuses are athletic events, but where would these college sports be without their dedicated athletes? Student athletes get a lot of praise for their achievements on the field, but tend to disregard the work they accomplish in the classroom. Living in a college environment as a student athlete has a great deal of advantages as well as disadvantages that affect education and anti-intellectualism.

Many students participate in extracurricular athletics, but sports are not worth their extreme cost. Amanda Ripley, author of a Scholastic Scope article, states, “Maintaining a grass field can cost more than $20,000 a year” (11). She also says that during out of town games, schools provide transportation for teams, cheerleaders, band, meals, and hotels (Ripley 11). These facts reveal that extracurricular sports waste an outrageous portion of a school’s already quite limited budget and it is absolutely critical to put that money towards updating the campus and creating a better learning environment. Ultimately, if institutions don’t stop squandering their money on after school athletics, the future of education will be a grim one.

Intercollegiate athletics have been a part of the college experience dating back to 1852, when Harvard and Yale competed against each other in their first annual regatta race. Initially, the entry of collegiate sports onto America’s college campuses was the result of professors’ realization that a complete college experience required more than accomplishments in letters (Lewis, 1970). Furthermore, Shulman & Bowen (2011) assert

Each season college students and fans support their sports team in hopes of a National Championship Title. They purchase season tickets, team clothing, and expensive sports packages from television providers in order to watch their team from afar. This generates a lot of cash for universities and retailers.

Athletics are a big attraction to many students when looking at colleges. When college sports programs have success, research done by Pope and Pope show that there is a boost in applications that the colleges receive from students. “Applications [after] a Championship add 7-8 percent, with a big effect in the immediate year and little effect after one year.” It was found that when colleges have winning athletic teams get more applications sent in from all levels of student and not just athletes. This is found true for basketball and football. Not only increase in applications is found but also found after success in football there is a growth in enrollment, this is not found true for basketball (Getz and Siegfried “What Does Intercollegiate Athletics Do…”). “David Schmidly the president of the University of New Mexico said “One of the most effective ways to market your university nationally is to have a really quality athletic program. It helps recruit faculty, students, and donors. It helps with the image of the whole university.” (qtd. in Getz and Siegfried “College Sports: The Mystery of the Zero-Sum Game.”)

Student athletes entertain fans at their local resident arena, which generated five million and six hundred thousand dollars in ticket sell in 2012 (National College Athletic Association). This is not fair to student athletes that are solely responsibility for contributing to these financial statistics. Student athletes are leaders in the classrooms and on the field. Student athletes uphold the standards requirement by the NCAA to maintain their eligible to play sports. As leader on the field and the classroom, they possess a high standard of moral and behavior by not cheating, obeying the rules and regulations of their college and university. Student athletes are held to a higher standard than regular students. A regular student can

For 150 years, college sports have been an important aspect of American universities and abolishing them would eliminate the benefits that they bring (“College Athletics Programs”). One of the greatest benefits of college athletics is that they bind the school to the community. People who live in a college town love to support their institution and showing up at numerous athletic events displays how far their dedication goes. Not only do college sports attract people who live in the college town, but also alumni and future students. The school’s spirit and unity extends far beyond the

Over the past few years, college athletics has grown immensely, gaining an infinite amount of supporters with no signs of slowing down. Today, sports are no longer just sports; they are becoming a business, leaving the athletes with no profit. The National Collegiate Athletic Association is a multi-billion-dollar organization that would not exist without athletes around the country. Each year, just like the popularity, the revenues that each college makes off athletics also increase but the athletes do not receive any of the compensation despite their work and sacrifices. Throughout one year alone, a division one university’s athletic departments can bring in a revenue that ranges anywhere from $70,000,000 to $180,000,000. This revenue consists of multiple aspects; not just ticket sales. College programs also bring in millions from television and

The article which I chose in this assignment comes from “The Michigan Daily”, which is a newspaper native to the state of Michigan and its residents. The main subject of the article is the recent increase in season ticket prices for the University of Michigan football games. This price increase will mostly impact the students of the University of Michigan who are normal in attendance, but will also impact the loyal non-student fans as well. Michigan is a nationally renowned college football powerhouse who is famous for its enormous stadium and its extremely loyal fans.

The “contradiction at the heart of big-time college football,” as Michael Oriard describes it, is the competing demands of marketing and education. The 1890s proved to university administrators that there was an enormous market for collegiate football, which postulated opportunities for university building. Since this ubiquitous realization, there has coincided this blatant, yet unchanging contradiction that academic institutions are permitted to profit off of the services provided by its student-athletes while the athletes must idly accept that they are amateurs, donating their efforts to their respective schools. The schools then direct this revenue toward strengthening their athletic departments, and thus continues this seemingly endless growth of big-time college sports, all while athletes remain uncompensated and academics continue to take a backseat.

The essay was written in February 2011 and appeared in Forbes. Salzburg’s concern is that the universities are placing more importance on the athletics and football than academics. His essay displays organization and he provided details to reply his point as I will try to do the same in my essay. The resources support my main claim; football is very profitable for many universities, but at what cost to the students outside of the athletic department. What happens to the lost athletic players that received a poor college education? I learned that more 30 percent of student athletes does not graduate, and that 12 percent more money is spent on athlete students than general students. Salzburg uses Forbes as his platform to reach his audience of his peers and business professional. He provides a logical argument that students in both the academics and athletic department can appreciate. Salzburg is the Bloomberg Distinguish Professor at John Hopkins University. He completed his B.A and M.S at Yale University and received his Ph.D. from Harvard University. He has published over 200 scientific

While the academic education of student-athletes is of primary concern, the Athletics Council’s involvement extends to include all matters affecting the Athletics program. The Athletics

Across this great nation it is tradition to some to gather on Saturdays to witness the best football games in the world. I’m not talking about professional, I’m talking about the tremendous game of college football. The thrill of men playing for the love of the game instead of the paycheck is an exuberant sight. Yet, even though I speak so greatly about it some say it is just a distraction to students. While college sports might take attention away from learning in some eyes, college sports give out billions of dollars in scholarships, passion generated for the school from activities pushes students to be better in the classroom , and the ncaa is nonprofit so most of the money goes back into colleges.

Student retention has been an important topic on college campuses across the United States. The effectiveness of and the need for campus programs and services are justified by their contribution to retaining students. Today, higher education is also being studied on how funds are being allocated due to the increasing tuition rates and fees. Programs such as campus recreation are often perceived as excessive or as a nonessential “perk” (Brandon, 2010). Despite these views, recreational sport programs on college campuses offer students additional options of learning to participate in outside of the academic classroom. These programs provide leisure opportunities in formal and informal settings and are important to the overall development of students.