[fatalogic]

On the other hand sports bring in insane amounts of money, publicity and status to colleges, especially state schools where without them they probably couldn't compete with private schools.

http://www.cheatsheet.com/money-career/ncaa-20-college-footb...

Also given the rising obesity rates and health concerns related to obesity I would say physical fitness is very important in today's society. Education spending should be improved but education isn't all about studying from books. We need mixture of arts, physical education and formal education.

[analog31]

Unfortunately, I suspect that professional college sports and the physical fitness of real students, are different things. For most students, like the rest of us, college sports is a form of passive entertainment.

I went to a smaller college that did not have professional teams, and I suspect that students were healthier than at the Big 10 university near my house. The sports were pretty much open to all students.

The captain of my college's football team was a physics major. That tells you something about the quality of the football team, the physics program, or both. ;-)

[hash-set]

All that considered, I would still rather see higher education and big-time farm-league sports (football & basketball) divorced. Big time sports are nothing but a drag on the mission of education--you basically have semi-pro athletes who never graduate acting like princes and engaging in all kinds of anti-social activities that get overlooked. It's a huge mess and it needs to be cleaned up.