Stop (taxpayer) funding of college sports

Perhaps the editor has decided against publishing an opinion piece I had emailed him two weeks ago (that and more is in this piece) in which I wrote:

As much as various college sports provide entertainment throughout the academic year, they do not generate employment and incomes with the kind of economic multipliers that, for instance, an Intel has had, and will continue to have, in the Portland metropolitan area and throughout Oregon as well.

So, that was two weeks ago.

Three days ago, the Oregonian's editorial noted "Intel's thundering footfall"

A report this week shows more than 5 percent of all economic activity in Oregon derives from Intel's work here.

The company in 2009 employed more than 15,150 people at average gross salaries of more than $117,000 each, dwarfing the average Washington County private-sector salary of $52,200 and Oregon salary of about $40,000. That $1.8 billion payroll then filtered into retail consumption and home-buying – and yet even it was dwarfed by $5.4 billion the company spent in the same year on utilities and goods and services furnished in good measure by Oregon businesses. The ripple effect runs deep as well as statewide.

Yet, it is not the creation of the next Intel or a new industry leader that our universities focus on. 

Instead, universities, including the one where I work, have come to believe, it would seem so, that it is in their best interests to collect monies from students and taxpayers in order to keep students and taxpayers entertained.

As we begin to experience tighter and tighter budget situations, one would think that we would then begin to cut the college-athletic-entertainment-industry's expenses.  Not so!

Using the problems in Virginia as the point of departure, this column in Reason argues:

perhaps now is the point at which Virginia leaders should give college athletics a long, hard look. Why? Two reasons: (1) They cost a gawdawful lot of money, and (2) they have nothing to do with the purpose of a university.

Well, hey, I wrote in my opinion piece that has not made it to print:

Successful sports teams could certainly help us forget, at least for a few hours, our individual and collective economic insecurities, but they are not going to help us build a secure and prosperous future in a rapidly changing world.