there are hundreds of colleges in this country where, in the face of ever shrinking state funding, administrators are choosing to spend millions on sports programs with only the faintest hope that they’ll one day see a return on their investment other than the dubious intangible benefits of having a few second-rate sports squads around to keep up school spirit. Moreover, they’re spending more on those programs every year. Even if athletics only make up a relatively small fraction of their overall budgets, this seems like a place where more of higher ed needs to think about cutting.
Why do alumni support donate money for sports teams?
I understand that sports loyalty can be an accidental phenomenon. The fact that I grew up in the St. Louis area made me a fan of the Cardinals baseball team. There are millions of Cardinal fans out there. I bet that you cannot find one who has donated money to the team.
There are many features of popular entertainment in America leave me personally unmoved. But probably the strangest one of all is college sports, particularly Division I football and basketball. Why they are so much more salient to people than minor league baseball is something that is very hard for me to understand.
I think it’s a combination of college teams (at least the extremely popular ones) being older and that they can claim to be vying for success at their highest possible level. With minor leagues, any glimmer of success is often rewarded with the next team up on the pecking order calling up the best players. Minors can certainly still be entertaining, but without the total commitment to winning championships it’s not quite the same form of competition which can easily drive fans to obsession.
The reason so many people “donate” is that in major college football, donations are expected in addition to the nominal ticket prices if you want to get access to good seating.
In the case of alumni, I think it is simply the fact that because you attended a given school and were educated there in your formative years, the University becomes part of your identity, in a way. It’s part of what made you who you are in a more concrete way than, say, the Red Sox minor league affiliate in Pawtucket ever could, even if you happened to grow up in Pawtucket.
What’s more inexplicable to me is why non-alums seem to also get so attached to particular college sports teams. I’d be interested to know what percentage of the 105k people packing the stands at “The Big House” in Ann Arbor on Saturdays actually attended the University of Michigan. I suspect it’s big, but not an overwhelming majority. Notre Dame has a huge following among people who did not attend the University (or any University, for that matter), too, but that’s more easily explained as a kind of ethnic/religious pride sort of thing.
I agree. I even wonder about this on more local levels with high school sports programs. Locally, these are the most visible. They get the attention in the local media. Now, they don’t attract donations (I suppose folks figure their prop taxes are enough), but they do seem to attract attention.
However, there are deep, non-school based sports programs that get little general attention, but more recruiter attention. For elite basketball, baseball and soccer players, playing on their high school squads are a step down from playing in their competitive leagues.
Recently, my local school district wanted to raise our already high property tax rates in part to build an $8 million football stadium because they could no longer share a stadium with the local small college due to scheduling conflicts. A bright note, citizens didn’t approve this measure. Many expressed the opinion that tax dollars should go to education and if they want to fund an $8 million stadium, they should do it from the revenue generated by the sports that would play in it.
The bigger college sports games can basically serve as college-reunion-esque social events (the tailgate, etc.) for said alumni. It’s not hard to understand why people would devote time & mental energy to that. If it weren’t college sports, it’d just be something else.
I am beginning to understand that people need events in their life. Something to go to over the weekend. Decades ago, when people worked 50 hours a week or more on the farm, going to church on Sunday was big deal. Present time, people go to, or watch on TV, sporting events instead. It provides (somewhat) regular entertainment and a topic of discussion for the rest of the week.
Charles Clotfelter’s “Big Time Sports in American Universities” does a pretty good job of examining college sports, albeit more from the supply/institution side than the demand side.
I don’t see it as any more mysterious than rooting for the St. Louis Cardinals. I don’t think I could give a rational explanation of why I root for my favorite professional sports teams, and I wouldn’t expect college athletics to be any more rational.
Your essay made me a fan of the Red Sox. Facebook (social networking software) was started in 2004, a year with a Red Sox World Series victory. The Amazon Kindle (e-books) was released in 2007, a year with a Red Sox World Series victory. Hmmm…
Why they are so much more salient to people than minor league baseball is something that is very hard for me to understand.
I like them better because all the players are young and they go full out.
In Europe they have 19 and under soccer and that seems more popular than out minor leagues which ave some older players trying to hang on.
There is at least one exception in the pro sports world. People who buy shares in the Green Bay Packers really are just donating money to the team, given how those shares work.
1. There was a study once that showed alumni of schools with successful sports programs are happier than alumni of Ivy League schools. The Ivy Leaguers always feel like they should be doing better than everyone else and remain quit frustrated.
2. The Cardinals are the one of the most valuable brands in baseball, so every hat sold is like a donation.
John Thacker beat me to it. I don’t believe public funds were used in any of the recent renovations and upgrades to Lambeau Field. Being a Packer ‘shareholder’ is rather symbolic and gives one no real leverage with the team. There are enough rabid fans (of the team and football in general) who are willing to pay for upgrades to the facility – a facility they may never even see in person – in return for a nice wall-hanging and a hearty ‘thank you’.
But as John said, this is the exception.