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University at Albany" but [mercifully] it has long been replaced by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"