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Harbaugh, Kent, Oriard and Wright: Are big-time college sports worth it?

Last updated on 03/23/2015

Video now up: Of course they are – but for whom?

I made a pitch for the 3% tax, and talked a little bit about things like FHS 199. It was a good discussion, with some very interesting questions from the Portland City Club members:

I’ll be on a panel at the Portland City Club tomorrow, discussing this with Jordan Kent and Michael Oriard, moderated by Ryan White. Hank Stern of GoLocalPDX has a post up:

And give City Club credit for what promises to be an intriguing panel of former Ducks football and basketball player Jordan Kent, now an analyst at Comcast Sportsnet NW; University of Oregon economics professor Bill Harbaugh of the watchdog UO Matters blog; and retired Oregon State University professor of American literature and culture Michael Oriard, who played football at Notre Dame and in the NFL for the Kansas City Chiefs.

22 Comments

  1. Fishwrapper 03/19/2015

    The headline says it all: Universities Lose Millions For A Shot At The NCAA Tournament Title

    In fact, the most recent numbers from the Equity in Athletics filings show that over a third of tournament teams did not make a profit during the 2013-2014 season. Additionally, five universities in this year’s tournament – West Virginia, Notre Dame, Oklahoma State, UC Irvine, and Davidson – will report losses. Both West Virginia and Notre Dame will see losses of at least $2 million, but even that is relatively tame compared to the $3 million Oregon State University lost during the 2013-2014 season.

    The whole thing is an annoying read, ’cause you know it’s probably true even without a tournament run…

    Linky

  2. dog 03/21/2015

    Ha, that is an imposter.

    Who is this Dr. William Harbough that is cited in the caption …?

    • uomatters Post author | 03/21/2015

      Seemed best to use an alias

  3. Anonymous 03/22/2015

    this was a really informative, captivating discussion. thanks for sharing, and for everything else.

    • UO HillBilly 03/22/2015

      Agreed. What a great discussion.

  4. SaveUofO 03/23/2015

    As to the cost of Athletics I think we should at some point find out how much PERS is impacted by the ridiculous retirement benefits these athletic employees are or will be getting. There should be serious legislation to exclude Athletics staff from receiving PERS benefits. Referring to an Athletics staff member as a public employee providing a public service is an enormous insult to those who actually serve the public.

    • anonec 03/23/2015

      Unfortunately, it will not happen, or they would have to reconsider all tax-deductions for “season tickets” and other donations that are granted as “public benefit”. It would be great but I doubt any politician would want to open the can of worms…

      • Ben 03/23/2015

        It wouldn’t be political suicide if running under the banner of how Bellotti is a half millionaire every year that he just breathes.

  5. Sports spending 03/23/2015

    Why are we wasting even another minute fundraising for the athletic department? They seem to be doing ok, while the academic side is universally agreed to be hurting. Why isn’t every ounce of our fundraising energy being used to help the academic mission? The answer seems to be that athletics can’t even support athletics at UO. Makes sense I guess, just ask the wrestling team.

    • megasports$ 03/23/2015

      Clearly the success of the F-ball and B-ball teams isn’t helping our academic fundraising efforts. Has UO received a multi-million dollar gift since the Ballmer mega gift?

    • no one 03/24/2015

      Because in fundraising all that matters is the bottom line, not where it goes. If they say they want to raise a billion dollars they are counting on athletics to bring in half of it. This could be fixed by the president and Andreason by separating the two and approaching athletics fundraising differently than they do. As it is, athletics and academic fundraising are almost in competition with each other and there is no cooperation between the two. Athletics offers great perks to their donors and athletic fundraising is fundamentally different than raising funds for academics.

  6. Fishwrapper 03/25/2015

    In this season of high profile “collegiate” activity, it’s worth noting that academics are not the story.

    Indeed, that has been noted…

    …a player’s academics are only deemed noteworthy if she is an exceptionally good student. Leaving the academic experiences of the majority of players unaddressed inadvertently supports the NCAA’s narrative that sports are an effective part of a holistic education.

    linky

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