Research Proposal

Working Title: College Athletic Programs Do More Harm than Good (terrible title will fix)

Topic

            A decrease in public funding has forced many universities to privatize. As a result, such universities actively seek out new ways to generate revenue. One of the most popular methods has been the development of college athletics. According to many proponents of college sports, athletics can lead to stronger support from state legislature, increased alumni donations, and revenue from admissions (Dowling 37). While this is true for the most part, college athletics also has many negative effects on a university. For example, the profit generated from athletics may be eclipsed by the cost of supporting an athletic team. Furthermore, strong support of sports teams may lead to a decrease in academics as universities begin to make exceptions for promising athletes whom may not be up to academic standards. Lastly, college athletics may lead to legal scandals ranging from forging transcripts to covering up rape accusations. With these issues in mind, one must ask themselves whether or not benefits of college sports are outweighed by the costs.

Research Question

            My research question will be: Does college athletics actually generate any real revenue, and are the legal issues and decrease in academic prestige worth it? It seems possible to answer, and I will attempt to research each point individually. Overall, the topic is very controversial. Crime specifically is very controversial, as not everyone agrees that college athletes are able to get away with crimes any more than their peers.

Theoretical Frame and Case

            To support the idea that the revenue generated by athletics may not be significant, I will use Cheslock and Knight’s article, which outlines a pattern where intercollegiate athletics programs become trapped and forced into constantly increasing their spending, thereby promoting financial strain and imbalance. To begin, Cheslock and Knight consider how some top athletics programs are able to generate revenue through a number of external sources, such as admissions or television.  However, they soon realize that the expenditures of those leading programs increase as revenue from external sources increases, thereby forcing lesser programs to increase their own expenditures in order to keep up. Lastly, when such lesser programs can’t keep up, they resort to institutional subsidies or student fees. The result is an imbalanced program where the revenue is very unreliable.

            In order to support the idea of academic decline resulting from athletic programs, I will use the ideas mentioned by Dowling. In order to build their athletic programs, many universities will go through great lengths to admit students who are athletically talented, yet academically lacking. While this may be good for the sports teams, lowering the bar for these students will lead to an overall drop in the academic quality of the university. Smart students do not want to go to a university where their peers are in need of remediation, and talented professors do not want to be teaching remedial classes. As a result, such students and professors will go out of their way to avoid attending these universities, resulting in academic decline.

            There are many academic scandals resulting from college athletics programs. I will use the article from the Chronicle of Higher Education to describe the volume of such scandals. Dowling also describes one scandal involving the forgery of academic transcripts at the University of New Mexico (22). My overall point will be that athletics leads to crime, which takes its own toll on a university as people typically do not want to attend a college which supports fraud.

            Colleges may also cover up crimes committed by athletes in order to save their own sports programs. One article in the Sociology of Sport Journal describes how athletes are significantly less likely to be convicted of sexual assault. Another article by Lavigne in ESPN describes athletes such as Chris Rainey who committed numerous crimes, but were able to get away with no charges or very limited charges. I will try to prove whether or not these statements are entirely true and if they are a direct result of athletic programs turning a blind eye.       

Case

            As mentioned above, Cheslock and Knight describe a pattern of economic imbalance present in a number of athletic programs at universities. Such universities seem to directly prove my belief that college athletics do not actually produce significant revenue. Dowling also provides a description of New Mexico State, which struggled with both academic decline and athletics related legal scandals.

Finally, while I was not able to find many scholarly articles on the topic, the article ny Lavigne describes cases like Chris Rainey’s where athletes were able to escape crime charges. I was also able to find an article in the Sociology of Sports Journal which claims that athletes are less likely to be convicted of sexual assault.  I will attempt to find more article supporting this idea.

Works Cited

Benedict, Jeffrey, and Alan Klein. "Arrest And Conviction Rates For Athletes Accused Of Sexual Assault." Sociology Of Sport Journal 14.1 (1997): 86-94. Academic Search Premier. Web. 19 Oct. 2015.

Cheslock, John J., and David B. Knight. "Diverging Revenues, Cascading Expenditures, And Ensuing Subsidies: The Unbalanced And Growing Financial Strain Of Intercollegiate Athletics On Universities And Their Students." Journal Of Higher Education 86.3 (2015): 417-447. Academic Search Premier. Web. 13 Oct. 2015.

Dowling, William C. Confessions of a Spoilsport: My Life and Hard times Fighting Sports Corruption at an Old Eastern University. University Park: Pennsylvania State UP, 2007. Print.

Lavigne, Paula. "Lawyers, Status, Public Backlash Aid College Athletes Accused of Crimes." ESPN. ESPN Internet Ventures, 15 June 2015. Web. 20 Oct. 2015.

WOLVERTON, BRAD. "NCAA Says It's Investigating Academic Fraud At 20 Colleges." Chronicle Of Higher Education 61.20 (2015): A13. Academic Search Premier. Web. 19 Oct. 2015.