Is collegiate athletics given too much (or not enough) attention?

 Is collegiate athletics given too much (or not enough) attention?

Winning sporting teams enhance a university's reputation and may increase enrollment.

On any given Saturday in the autumn, tens of thousands of fans pack into college football stadiums throughout the nation to support their favorite team or alma mater. Many people compare the Universities of Alabama or Southern California to nothing else, if anything.

Many colleges and universities get their identities from athletics, with a handful of Ivy League schools (which do not give athletic scholarships) and other renowned intellectual institutions.

"The university's front porch is its athletics program. although serving in the same capacity at Utah State in 2009, Oregon State athletic director Scott Barnes told The New York Times that although it may not be the most important room in the house, it is the most noticeable.

Winning sports programs enhance a school's reputation and thrill supporters, alumni, and students. In addition to making hundreds of millions of dollars from ticket sales, merchandising, and television rights, teams foster a feeling of community.

Universities have a broad variety of interests, and not all of them prioritize athletics over academics, despite the fact that many place a lot of attention on sports teams and sporting events.

But is athletics getting too much attention given that they tend to dominate how people see universities?

In a recent survey, Utahns were asked that question by The Deseret News as well as the Hinckley Institute of Politics at the University of Utah.

The findings indicate that 46% think that colleges and universities place too much focus on athletics, while 48% think that there is a good balance. Only 3% of respondents feel there isn't enough focus on sports, and 3% are unsure.

Between August 7 and 14, Dan Jones & Associates surveyed 803 Utah residents who were registered to vote. The error margin is 3.46 percentage points, plus or minus.

No matter the gender, the survey's results were relatively constant. Interestingly, the percentage of those who said universities place too much emphasis on athletics was greatest among those aged 25 to 40, at 60%.

Are college sports profitable?

The debate over schools' concentration on athletics is far more complex than a newspaper title would imply, according to Steve Ross, a law professor and co-executive director in charge of the Penn State Center for the Study of athletics in Society.

The athletic department at Penn State reported $170.5 million in costs and $181.2 million in income. The football team alone generated $105 million in revenue in 2021–2022; costs came to $60 million.

"To say we're putting excessive emphasis on football is like saying we're putting too much importance on our research, where we're receiving all these grants from the government when these are very effective," added Ross.

The exception, not the rule, is an athletics department that is lucrative. According to NCAA statistics, just nine Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) institutions generated a profit in 2021, with the median net income being $15.8 million. Although there were fewer profitable schools overall than in prior years, income increased dramatically. With the exception of those institutions, Division I programs relied on institutional assistance and student fees to balance their budgets.

Ross challenges the amount spent on so-called Olympic or non-revenue sports at colleges.

"I don't see why Utah tennis should play in a league with Cal and Stanford rather than one with Idaho and Wyoming. Does Ute Tennis help the community by giving Salt Lake City a large source of local entertainment? No. Who attends sporting events? friends and family. Who attends Weber State's tennis matches? friends and family. Why can't Utah go in a minivan to face Weber State in tennis? he questioned.

Coaches of men's basketball or football are often the highest-paid public employees in their respective states. As reported by Transparent Utah, a state government website, that is true at the institution of Utah, where football coach Randy Whittingham leads the list with $5.6 million a year in 2023.

The head coach of the men's basketball team, who no longer works for the university, is listed second. Larry Krystkowiak was sacked by the university in 2021, but he is still receiving $3 million under a contract that runs out this year.

In addition to Whittingham as well as Krystkowiak, two assistant football coaches who each make over $1.6 million annually round out the top 10. The salaries of the other six medical professionals total around $1.5 million per year.

investing in both academics and sports

The University of Utah School of Medicine and University Hospital routinely rank among the finest in the nation, and Utah has recently had one of the top football teams in the country.

According to University Business, which used statistics from the National Science Foundation, universities spent $89.9 billion overall research and development in 2021—an increase of $3.4 billion than the previous year—in math, science, engineering, and other important subjects.

42% of total funding was allocated to the top 30 R&D universities, more than half of which were public institutions. According to the analysis, 24 of those institutions made investments totaling more than $1 billion, and all but three of them disclosed R&D expenses for their medical schools.

It's interesting to note that Michigan, Washington, UCLA, Stanford, and Wisconsin are among the institutions in the top 10 that also have prominent, championship-caliber sports teams.

According to The New York Times, the American Association of University Professors reported in 2014 that most colleges and universities significantly expanded their expenditure on sports, while spending declining or being flat on education, research, and public service.

The group said in the study that "institution of higher education have lost the concentration on the academic activities at the core of their mission." "Our institutions' attention is too easily shifted from teaching and learning to scandal and excess by the spending priority given to competitive athletics," the statement reads.

Since that almost ten-year-old study headlined "Losing Focus," the organization hasn't kept track of sports expenses.

The NCAA reports that Division I colleges spent $13.7 billion on sports in 2021, an 11% decrease from the prior year. A total of $2.9 billion will be spent on player scholarships, while $3 billion will go toward paying coaches' salaries.

According to NCAA statistics, spending on sports as a share of an institution's overall expenses decreased to 5.7% in 2021 after rising over the previous ten years to a peak of 6.7% in 2016.

The Flutie Effect: What is it?

Success on the basketball court or the football field may sometimes lead to an increase in enrollment, or at least that is the impression. At the very least, it is effective advertisement.

Consider the improbable yet unforgettable victory by Boise State against Oklahoma in the 2007 Fiesta Bowl. The thrilling contest popularized Broncos football.

Boise State is the best example of what athletic success can accomplish for a school, regardless of the advantages and disadvantages of college sports. And that New Year's Eve in Glendale, Arizona is what led to Boise State's achievements," Berry Tramel wrote in The Oklahoman in 2018.

Enrollment at Boise State increased from a steady 18,876 in the autumn of 2006 to 24,145 in the spring of 2018. The proportion of out-of-state students increased dramatically. According to Tramel, the proportion of in-state students who live beyond the Treasure Valley, which encircles Boise, has significantly grown.

At the time, the university's president said that faculty hiring had become simpler and that the state government had shown a greater interest in Boise State. Research funding has skyrocketed. According to the account, university infrastructure grew, with new buildings appearing all around campus, including dorms, an alumni center, and new academic facilities for engineering and business.

According to Tramel, everyone involved cited the 43-42 Fiesta Bowl victory.

It is referred to as the "Flutie Effect."

In order to defeat Miami in 1984, Boston College quarterback Doug Flutie threw a 48-yard Hail Mary that was grabbed for a score by Gerard Phelan in the closing seconds. According to a 2013 Harvard study by marketing expert Doug Chung, the unlikely victory placed Boston College, a private Jesuit university, in the national limelight, increasing enrollment applications by 30%.

The quality and number of college applications in the United States are significantly impacted by sports achievement, according to Chung's research on the Flutie Effect. Applications rise by 17.7% for schools that transition from being ordinary to exceptional on the football field.

He noted that in order to obtain comparable outcomes, a school would need to either lower tuition by 3.8% or raise the standard of instruction by hiring higher-quality staff, who are paid 5.1% more on the academic labor market.

"Overall, athletic success offers a significant long-term goodwill effect on future uses and quality," claims Chung.

He noted that kids with higher SAT scores show a larger preference for academic quality, whereas those with lower SAT scores tend to have a stronger choice for athletic performance. However, "surprisingly," academically superior pupils are also affected by sports achievement while applying. 

Success on the field or in court may affect enrollment applications to a school for a number of reasons, Chung said. It could just be the result of more awareness. Even well-known colleges gain awareness and buzz when they have a successful squad.

Cultural occurrence

American society also places a lot of emphasis on sports, and individuals use games as a focal point for their social interactions.

Students may find it alluring to engage in such sports-based socializing in order to feel like they are a part of something exceptional, something greater than themselves, according to Chung's analysis. The success of the school may be enhanced as a result of increased alumni participation, which can result in gifts and assistance with job placement for current students.

The Appalachian State football team famously beat Michigan in 2007, and a study there indicated the Flutie Effect results in an average of 196 more students joining the following year and 237 more after two years. The number of students enrolled rises by 213 the year following a national championship and by 170 the year after that.

A PhD student at the University of Louisville examined the Flutie Effect in 2021 and discovered a dearth of primary evidence to support the hypothesis that a school's football or basketball performance affects prospective students' interest in attending.

The research found that neither winning football nor basketball teams substantially predicted how important sports were to undergraduate students' enrollment choices. But successful teams contribute to the development of a close-knit campus community and students' happiness with their academic choice.

The Flutie Effect only has an influence if a school is able to maintain its performance, which most aren't, at least not at the same level.

Many institutions do not have their identity tied to their sporting programs, but others do. These identities may change as well.

"Colorado is, in my opinion, an excellent illustration of it. I wouldn't have stated that Colorado's unique identity revolves on football. The sports star they recruited has made "Colorado Prime" the buzz of the town. Ross predicted that the employment of Deion Sanders, once known as "Prime Time" in the NFL and now known as "Coach Prime," by the school would not survive more than five years.

Ross said that he views Utah not as a football school but rather as the top public institution in a "Mormon" state.

Even Notre Dame and BYU aren't football colleges in my opinion. These well-known religious universities having a religious link include Notre Dame and BYU," he stated.

Academics and athletics may complement one another.

The late Penn State coach Joe Paterno challenged the university's administrators to strive for intellectual as well as athletic achievement after winning his first national football title in 1982. At the time, he said that "you can't have a great university absent a great library." He and his wife, Sue, organized a campaign that succeeded in raising $13.75 million to construct a new library, including a significant sum of their own cash.

Paterno made fun of the fact that Penn State was the only campus with a library named after a football coach and an athletic complex named after the college president, the Bryce Jordan Center.