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October 29, 2009
Postscript on the Knight Commission's report
Earlier this week, the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics issued a report describing the rising state of alarm among university presidents regarding the cost of big-time football and basketball programs. What’s more, the presidents feel powerless to control the spiraling expenses.
John Maher, a sharp-eyed sportswriting colleague, alerted me to one passage in the report that is especially candid. Although I’m not big on anonymous quotes, I found the comments telling:
Presidents believe they have limited power to effect change on their own campuses regarding athletics financing and the larger problems it has created. A number of presidential comments suggest the nature of this problem. One comment captured the challenge succinctly: “Presidents of big schools aren’t listening and don’t want to. There are lots of fans and lots of dough working against that. They don’t want to push back against these interests.”
One president observed that “no one can or will stick his neck out”:
The real power doesn’t lie with the presidents; presidents have lost their jobs over athletics. Presidents and chancellors are afraid to rock the boat with boards, benefactors, and political supporters who want to win, so they turn their focus elsewhere.
A more lengthy response came from a non-equity president:
I’ve only been a president of the university for two and a half years, but I’ve observed other presidents close-up. There are schools that have much larger athletics budgets and are selling out their games. That empowers athletics in ways that are hard to resist.
Presidents do find the athletic program provides the opportunity to sell the institution to the larger community and they want to preserve that. Presidents are also expected to raise a lot of money from the private sector and they are trying not to alienate their major donors. Even if major athletic donors are not giving to the rest of the university they can make your life miserable. If you have a lucrative TV contract you want to protect that. Frankly, I would love to have twice the problems I have if it came with twice the revenue.
The “executive summary” containing this passage, as well as an appendix, a news release and other documents, can be viewed at this link to the Knight Commission’s Web site.
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