Sports and academics: TheCenter at UF uncovers new insight

December 3, 2003

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Research university investment in high-profile sports programs competes with institutional investment in teaching and research quality according to a new report released by TheCenter, a higher education research unit at the University of Florida.

Published with the annual report “The Top American Research Universities,” the co-authors from three research universities explore the relationship between high-performing academic institutions and intercollegiate sports programs.

“Everyone has a strong opinion about college sports, and the enthusiasm tends to distort a clear understanding of the value of college sports in high-performing research institutions,” said report co-author John Lombardi, chancellor of the University of Massachusetts-Amherst and a former UF president. “Most at the universities do not present a full accounting of the true cost of their intercollegiate athletic programs, which prevents them from understanding the tradeoff between sports and other university activities.”

The main conclusions of the study are:

  • There is no necessary correlation between high-profile sports and the academic quality of an institution.
  • High-profile college sports programs have a minimal impact on nonathletic fundraising.
  • Only a few institutions can show a full accounting of the true income and expense of their sports programs.
  • Only a small number of sports programs appear to break even, and an even smaller number make money from sports. Most sports programs are heavily subsidized from general revenue.
  • Sports programs do have a value in marketing institutions, but universities must choose whether this use of discretionary dollars is wiser than directly enhancing teaching and research to build quality.

“The Top American Research Universities” annual report is a project co-authored by Lombardi; Elizabeth Capaldi, from the University of Buffalo and a former UF provost; Kristy Reeves, Diane Craig and Denise S. Gater, from UF; and Dominic Rivers, also from UMass Amherst. The report is available online at http://thecenter.ufl.edu.