Article: Ban College Football

[Watson]

A bit ironic that the work he is really known for revolves around an athlete who's only shot a "quality" education came via his football skills.

[ODogg]

Quote: Originally Posted by simgamer0005

Perhaps, but i don't think i'm jaded. because i still love college football. i just think we're getting a watered down version of college football nowadays, compared to what it was. i think i just care enough about the game to point out how exactly it changed for the worse. many people on here besides me have commented on the ridiculousness of the endless conference re-alignment. i'm not the only one who said that they can't believe that a touchback will be at the 25 yard line next year. i don't expect college football to anywhere as long as it's making the mega money that it is. but i'd be remiss if i didn't try to make sense or get to the bottom of what the article is all about. would you say that Mr. Bissinger is jaded and tired of the game? after all, he's the one that wrote the article about banning college football. he's the one that put that out there.

I'd say he never liked college football to begin with. And the entire analysis of his article is laughable. No players benefit from college football? Really? Tell that to Andrew Luck or any of the athletes who just signed for millions. Talk about a flawed piece of work without much thought..

I agree about the endless conference re-alignments but that sort of thing is to be expected in sports at times. Yes it's been a bit absurd as of late but it's not going to continue (at least I would hope not) at this breakneck pace.

[SafetyGreen]

Quote: Originally Posted by WatsonTiger

A bit ironic that the work he is really known for revolves around an athlete who's only shot a "quality" education came via his football skills.

Or ya kno...if he studied maybe

[p_rushing]

If football goes, then every women's sport goes too. Basketball and possibly Baseball at a few southern colleges would survive.

As far as education, football provides an opportunity for a lot of kids that wouldn't be able to get that opportunity otherwise. This includes the football players and the others that benefit from scholarships paid for by the income from the football team.

You can't force the football players to take that advantage though, as seen by a lot of meaningless majors. A smart player will put work into learning all they can so that if the NFL doesn't happen, they can make a good life. Its ultimately up to them to put the effort in.

[Amoo316]

One thing we're all forgetting, at least I didn't see it and may have missed it...Tuition is astronomically high as it is, can you imagine what the numbers would look like without schools pulling in athletics incomes (mainly football and basketball)?

[lonewolf371]

Quote: Originally Posted by Milbut

One thing we're all forgetting, at least I didn't see it and may have missed it...Tuition is astronomically high as it is, can you imagine what the numbers would look like without schools pulling in athletics incomes (mainly football and basketball)?

Probably better if we got rid of athletics since most athletic departments run in the red.

[TDenverFan]

Quote: Originally Posted by Milbut

One thing we're all forgetting, at least I didn't see it and may have missed it...Tuition is astronomically high as it is, can you imagine what the numbers would look like without schools pulling in athletics incomes (mainly football and basketball)?

Athletic Income is nothing to a school. Very few schools make more than a few million. And those schools are the ones like Texas, who have a major endowment (14 billion).

[lonewolf371]

Quote: Originally Posted by TDenverFan

Athletic Income is nothing to a school. Very few schools make more than a few million. And those schools are the ones like Texas, who have a major endowment (14 billion).

Eh, even the endowment isn't enough to fund a public research university. UT-Austin's 2011-2012 budget was $2 billion, which would gobble up that endowment (which is actually for the entire UT system, not just Austin) rather quickly. Counting research and other expenditures at a university like UT-Austin makes it more ridiculous. Doing a little web-search it looks like counting all those for Michigan give roughly $6 billion in terms of what they spend yearly, which would be more revenue than all of college football combined (and comparable to that of the NFL). It's also roughly the same size as Michigan's endowment.

http://www.utsystem.edu/cont/reports...0Summaries.pdf
http://sitemaker.umich.edu/obpinfo/f...aasum_fy12.pdf

[guitar4468]

I've always looked at college athletics as a marketing tool. It gets your name out there and gets people involved with donations among other things. It also helps with keeping people connected to the school and to a lesser extent a networking tool bringing generations of people together.

[chilli311]

Quote: Originally Posted by WatsonTiger

A bit ironic that the work he is really known for revolves around an athlete who's only shot a "quality" education came via his football skills.

From the original story, only five of the players went on to play football in college (one of which was on an academic scholarship, and two were at junior college), and none played more than two years. I think that actually helps support his argument in this case.

For the record, while I think that some of his points are valid, as a whole, getting rid of college football would take away more opportunities from individuals who don't have the means to receive a higher education.