College football brings money into the University. Plain and simple. Ever been to a University football game? Lots of fans, alumni and students... all cheering for their team and paying ticket prices/food/soda etc... Now, let’s be fair. If you want to eliminate college football, then eliminate basketball, lacrosse, golf, volleyball, softball, baseball, and every other sport that offers full or partial scholarships. It won’t happen because football and basketball pays for the other sports. Ever been to a college softball game? Plenty of seats available...
Let’s be totally fair. Ban tenure for all so called professors in colleges. Make them actually year to year earn a living.
I admit that I attended a sports nut university, but there are multiple women’s sports at the University of Alabama that draw large crowds or crowds that fill the seats for the particular venues. I don’t think we could get 100K fans to a gymnastics meet, but you never know.
Let’s be totally fair. Ban tenure for all so called professors in colleges. Make them actually year to year earn a living.
College football brings money to the athletic department of a university. Precious little of that money actually makes it into what should be the “core brands” of a university: the service of knowledge (whether passing on old knowledge, usually called “teaching”, or uncovering new knowledge, usually called “research”, or in the case of land-grant universities which often have the most lavish football programs, spreading practical knowledge among the general populace of the state, usually called “extension”). Oh, yes, a winning season usually brings with it a slight uptick in unrestricted donations, but that is dwarfed by the donations to the athletic program per se. (I know whereof I speak: both my wife and I teach at land grant universities with big football programs — two different ones, in neighboring states — and in both cases my description holds.)
Try proposing a surcharge on athletic tickets, the proceeds of which go to fund the educational (or research) mission of the university and see how far it gets. (Hint: for an analogy, think about suggesting real deregulation of the energy industry in the Obama White House.)