Sweet Deals for Sweet Sixteen Athletes

The UCLA men’s basketball team faces a tall task Thursday night when they play overall #1 seed Florida in the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament. Win or lose, UCLA students and alumni may find solace in their school’s proportion of academic to athletic spending.

Of the 13 public universities in the Sweet Sixteen, UCLA has by far the best ratio of spending per athlete to academic spending per student. At UCLA, athletes only receive three times as much spending compared to the average student.

If #4 seed Louisville is able to beat archrival Kentucky, a #8 seed, on Friday night in a rare postseason Battle for the Bluegrass State, Cardinal alumni will have more than a trip to the Elite Eight to boast about. Kentucky spends 13 times as much on athletes as it does on students, while Louisville “only” spends 9 times as much. 

However, outside Kentucky, neither school has much room to brag. Of the 13 public universities in the Sweet Sixteen, Kentucky has the highest athletic to academic spending ratio, while Louisville ranks sixth-highest.

Not only did the Michigan Wolverines earn a better tournament seed than their rivals at Michigan State, they did so with a better academic to athletic spending ratio. Michigan spends $22,500 more than Michigan State per athlete, but they also spend $9,000 more per student, giving Michigan a 2 point edge over Michigan State’s ratio of 8. 

The National Labor Relations Board ruled Wednesday that Northwestern football players are university employees, since their scholarships are tied to athletic performance and their daily activities are directed by the athletic department. Regardless of how one feels about unions and the NLRB ruling, these student spending statistics make it clear that athletes are not being treated the same way as other students. 

College athletics has some benefits for schools—such as increased name recognition and, if teams perform well, applicants and alumni donations. However, the general student body should not be called upon to so heavily subsidize a few athletes. Of the 45 public university teams in the tournament, 41 athletic departments received subsidies from student fees and non-athletic school funding. These subsidies exceeded $420 million in total. 

There is no reason to end all the fun and excitement of college athletics, but schools should do more to ensure athletic department budgets are not hindering the main purpose of a university: education.