What is the effect of athletic programs on universities and student athletes?
Class
Article
Department
History
Presentation Type
Oral Presentation
Abstract
It's estimated that over 10 people watch March Madness-a respectably high number when it comes to TV shows. Both the National Football League and the National Basketball Administration regularly recruit exceptional players from college teams. But what effect does this have on the schools, and more importantly on the academic careers of students? I plan to focus on the profit margins of college athletic programs across the United States, as well as follow the post-college lives of student athletes in football and basketball programs to see if they can obtain careers in their fields of choice. I plan to examine the athletic revenues of colleges across the country, and compare them with the size and type of federal and state subsidies, if any, that the schools receive. In the case of student athletes' after-sport careers, I plan to do several case studies. What I expect to find is that college athletics are less profitable than schools make them out to be, and they hurt the education and career prospects of the students involved. Schools that would make a profit without their subsidy are considered profitable. The success of student athletes is more difficult to quantify, so I will be looking at their GPAs and comparing them with averages for other students at the same universities in the same fields of study who do not participate in athletic programs, in addition to gauging the careers of professional athletes who were recruited from colleges once they have retired from their respective leagues. Since athletic careers seldom last more than ten years, I will determine their success by whether they are gainfully employed in a field related to their academic careers.
Start Date
4-9-2015 10:00 AM
What is the effect of athletic programs on universities and student athletes?
It's estimated that over 10 people watch March Madness-a respectably high number when it comes to TV shows. Both the National Football League and the National Basketball Administration regularly recruit exceptional players from college teams. But what effect does this have on the schools, and more importantly on the academic careers of students? I plan to focus on the profit margins of college athletic programs across the United States, as well as follow the post-college lives of student athletes in football and basketball programs to see if they can obtain careers in their fields of choice. I plan to examine the athletic revenues of colleges across the country, and compare them with the size and type of federal and state subsidies, if any, that the schools receive. In the case of student athletes' after-sport careers, I plan to do several case studies. What I expect to find is that college athletics are less profitable than schools make them out to be, and they hurt the education and career prospects of the students involved. Schools that would make a profit without their subsidy are considered profitable. The success of student athletes is more difficult to quantify, so I will be looking at their GPAs and comparing them with averages for other students at the same universities in the same fields of study who do not participate in athletic programs, in addition to gauging the careers of professional athletes who were recruited from colleges once they have retired from their respective leagues. Since athletic careers seldom last more than ten years, I will determine their success by whether they are gainfully employed in a field related to their academic careers.