Great points all Upstater!
I would be in total agreement with all points you made relating to athletic department finances in relation to those of the academic side of the school if it were ten years ago.
Oddly, just watching "Forbes on Fox" and this issue was being discussed. One of the contributers said that there is a movement, do not know how strong, to make major college athletic departments "for profit" subsidiaries of "non profit" institutions because of the amount of money they are generating. Obviously, the level of concern about what we are seeing with the major schools and conferences has grown as all of this realignment continues to unfold. As I noted above, college athletics are being pushed into uncharted territory where issues, in large part tied to all the money being bantied about, will change the whole face of collegiate athletics. As you are well aware, large sums of money change all the dynamics. This is why it is inevitable that at some point different entitites which strongly adovocate for many of these issues, some totally insane, will show up at the door wanting a seat at the table. We see it all the time elsewhere throughout society. In my opinion, that will, in part, be the genesis for the antitrust suits and possible intrusion by labor unions and the NLRB. A good labor or antitust attorney could make a good argument that would survive summary judgement in this area.
Being a former adjunct faculty member myself I agree with you on the disparity of pay between the fulltime academics and us "underlings". That though sadly is but a faculty lounge issue at most institutions. Major college athletics, especially football and basketball, are highly visible and generate an inordinate amount of attention from the public. The squeakly wheel gets the grease, especially when there is so much money at stake. If they do find a way to pay the players, which I think is impossible without blowing up the current collegiate athletic system, that it would not cause tuitions to rise. They would not be paid as if they were in the NFL or NBA. If they played that well that is where they would be playing. The athletic department would just raise ticket prices, institute PSL's or find some other way to pass it on the fan. It is my understanding that the rise in tuition and fees is tied to how easy it has been the past two decades to obtain student loans and other financial aid. With the increase in the availability of low interest student loans the institutions felt they had a license to increase their tuition and fees as they would not suffer declining enrollment.
Anyway, you made great points. Your post really made me stop and give thought to what I had written. Thanks
