ABSTRACT
Big-time intercollegiate athletic programs in America are unique in the world in several respects: the size of their budgets; the potency of their influence within what are, putatively, academic institutions; and the way that many schools draw an identity from their athletic teams, which they view as a means to attract more and better students and higher contributions from alumni. In the optimistic view of their supporters, high-profile athletic programs serve as a school’s beckoning front porch. Varsity sports also function as feeder systems to professional sports, though barely 1 percent of the athletes in the topmost divisions of the NCAA will ever play, however briefly, in the National Football League or the National Basketball Association. And despite the considerable revenue derived from television contracts, alumni gifts, and gate receipts—not to mention mandatory student athletic fees, to which this book devotes significant attention—only perhaps 5 percent of the approximately 350 Division I athletic programs have revenues that exceed expenses. Sport can teach us to set and achieve goals; it encourages teamwork and even a sense of brotherhood or sisterhood among people from very different backgrounds. But does it belong at the center of university life? This introductory chapter surveys the ground and outlines the discussion to come.
