Quote:
Originally Posted by Eastshire
I'll take this bet (and win running away). At the collegiate level, football is a money-maker that pays for all the other athletics.
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I think the idea that more than half of the colleges in the country earn enough money from their 2 major men's sports to support the entire athletic budget is a fallacy. Even assuming the top 20 teams can do that (which I don't assume), that's not even close to 50% of Division 1 colleges. Add to that the large number of Division 2, 3, and NAIA schools, and you're going to lose this bet with force before you limp away.
Unless you think schools like Iowa State, Northwestern, Colorado State, New Mexico, etc., are somehow able to keep their athletic programs self-sustaining, you're going to lose the bet even if we keep it to the FBS schools.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Eastshire
There a significant difference between scholastic athletic budgets (which I agree are not for the most part self-supporting) and most amateur athletic budgets of which scholastic athletics are a significant part but also include the innumerable baseball, basketball, soccer, football, etc leagues that exist.
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For the record, I'm not suggesting any of these football programs aren't self-sustaining at the D1 level. They may well be, but to suggest that the football and basketball revenue at Iowa State is able to support the expenditures of all sports is incorrect at best.