A stimulatingly
humorous example of indiscriminate mixing of commercial interests
with those of an educational institution. From 23rd October 1998,
for about a year, this board displayed "Coca-Cola
University at Albany" but [mercifully] it has long been
replaced by a less amusing scoreboard-billboard.
For more serious consequences, try the following Recommended Reading:
Sperber, M. "College Sports Inc.: the athletic department versus the University" H.Holt, New York, 1990.
Zimbalist, A. "Unpaid Professionals: Commercialism and conflict in big-time college sports". Princeton University Press, 1999.
Bowen, W.G., and Levin, S.A. "Reclaiming
the
Game:
College
Sports and Educational Values". Princeton University Press, 2003.
Lawrence, Paul R.. "Unsportsmanlike conduct: the National
Collegiate Athletic Association and the business of college
football". Praeger, New York, 1987.
Bok, D. "Universities in
the Marketplace: the commercialization of Higher Education".
Princeton University Press, 2003.
Svare, B. "Reforming Sports Before the Clock
Runs Out". Bordalice Publishing, 2004.
Yost, M. "Varsity Green: A
behind-the-scences look at culture and corruption in college
athletics". Stanford University Press, 2010.
This page is intended to stimulate thought and discussion on a
subject that has regrettably serious consequences for most
educational institutions that host upper division NCAA sports
programs, especially of division 1. The fact is that most of these
programs lose money, when the full accounting is unearthed [see
especially Murray
Sperber's book; nothing significant has changed since
its publication - for example, Chronicle of Higher Education,
issue of 8 January 1999, page A76, and the President of Harvard's
2003 book, referenced above].
And while this is admittedly not a football scoreboard, remember
what George Will had to say:
"It [American Football] combines the two worst aspects of American
culture; it is violence interspersed with committee meetings"
A few universities, to their credit, do things differently (Princeton as reported in 1998)
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