The outlandish spending that is going on in Mid-American Conference athletic departments is unjustifiable on its face. It is also a part of an expensive athletics arms race in midsize schools, with students the victims of the inevitable fallout.
A recent Blade analysis found that spending on athletics among the 12 members of the MAC, including the University of Toledo and Bowling Green State University, has risen more than 75 percent during the past 10 years. The unfortunate reality is that the universities and students are subsidizing the majority of that spending.
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To their credit, the athletic departments at UT and BGSU are doing the best jobs of being self-sufficient, but a disproportionate amount of costs are still being borne by students. A recent Toledo graduate spent about $2,000 over four years to help cover sporting costs. The total was more than $3,200 at BGSU. Those fees eventually turn into much, much more for a student using a loan to pay for them.
A Huffington Post and Chronicle of Higher Education study found similar results nationwide. Georgia State was cited as one extreme example, with student fees covering 71 percent of the athletic department’s budget.
That study also found that schools with low-income student bodies were more likely to be subsidizing their sports departments than at high-income schools.
Does that make any sense?
The majority of soaring costs come in the form of new facilities and coaching salaries. Those two line items have gotten more and more out of hand as MAC schools copy the big boys like Ohio State and Michigan. But that is a far-fetched dream not born in reality because most smaller conferences, like the MAC, will never compete on a national stage with traditional football powers. The most successful MAC football program in recent memory was the 2012 Northern Illinois team that met Florida State in the Orange Bowl. The result? The Huskies were demolished 31-10. (One might argue, nonetheless, that Northern Illinois supplied the conference with about $12M to divvy up for its appearance against FSU.)
But what is the point of pouring money into chasing conference titles that will be forgotten 10 years down the road? Is an honors student really going to choose Bowling Green because it has a good football team?.
UT Director of Athletics Mike O’Brien told The Blade he believes the fees are fair because athletics are an important part of social life on campus. This is true — for some students. Maybe it is not for the student working two jobs to pay for college and watching tuition and fees rise.
First Published June 13, 2016, 4:37 a.m.
