This is part of the reason why getting rid of these blowout games is complicated, among other changes we might consider with big time college football:
“Getting eight-figures over the years is nothing to overlook at a Mountain West program and the Chronicle notes that nearly six percent of the entire athletic department budget ($1.525 million of the overall $26.5 million figure) in 2018 will come directly from SJSU playing at Oregon and Washington State this season.”
As fans we can complain about a school like SJSU going on these trips and getting blown out, but how many non-revenue sports don’t even exist there if not for these games? How many scholarship opportunities are lost? How many female students lose the opportunity to play sports without that extra 6% of the budget?
That’s also why, as much as I am not in favor of the current student athlete status in places like Ohio State and Alabama, where tens of millions of dollars are made on the backs, and risks, of kids who get little financial benefit from playing, we can’t simply take that money and start handing it out to football players either. That money is currently funding a lot of other programs and opportunities that won’t be there if we did that. It’ complicated. Though we can probably all agree the coaches and directors making millions in this system is unseemly, that’s not the only place that money goes. It also goes to help make sure there are opportunities for lots of other kids beyond the football team.
How do we dismantle the crud that comes along with big time college athletics, without creating a system where other sports simply go away?
