--- Larry Winer <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> I appreciate the fact we are having a civilised debate on this issue.
As do I.
> Football is often the sport that generates the $ for the rest of the
> sports.
I will concede that football can generate a lot of money in terms of
gate receipts, endorsements, etc., but only for the top tier programs
at the D-IA level.. even saying that, as Arthur suggests with reference
to the SI article, it is unclear how much money actually goes to other
sports from football (or basketball, etc.)
Does football generate more money than any women's sport, likely yes.
I don't want to get rid of football.
> It is also a high visibility sport. Don't tear down football to build
> up
> hockey or womens sports.
Just to be clear, I don't advocate what BU did.. just can football. No
school or league in the D-I A will reduce the number of football
scholarships because they will be unable to compete. But if it was
legislated by the NCAA, for instance, that you were only allowed 45
scholarships in football, it is across-the-board. It might even bring
more parity to college football.
Would that kill college football? I think not, you may disagree. As I
said previously, I love football (all levels). I want the NCAA or
someone else to do "something" before more schools follow BU's lead and
just cut the sport (or cut other men's sports -- because it isn't fair
to them either) to be in compliance with Title IX. Cutting the
scholarships is not "unfair" to football relative to other sports,
though football supporters may disagree, without much sympathy from
other sports.
If the NCAA cut football to 45 scholarships, would Michigan suddenly
have 50,000 empty seats? I think not. They'd still sell out because
the team would still get the best starting players around and it would
still be Michigan football. They aren't going to stop coming to games
because Michigan can't field two national championship contending
football teams at the same time.
> and in football at D1 you need to be at least 2 deep at every spot to
> be
> competitive and those 85 scholarships are spread over 5 years in
> football so
> it is not as gross as one may think.
True, some are spread over 5 years and football is a very physical
sport, so I don't doubt the need for depth. But return to my above
point for a minute. Individual schools or leagues can't cut the number
of football scholarships, otherwise you are right it isn't competitive.
But if every school in the country had only 45 football scholarships,
not only would it be competitive, but perhaps more so.
Nothing stops teams from having depth and plenty of non-scholarship
athletes, or partial scholarship players. It just cuts the pork from
football. Two scholarship players at every position is too much when
pratically every other sport gets just a couple reserves (if that).
> Quotas stink and are
> un-American. Title
> IX has killed more atheltic programs then it has helped. Eliminate
> football
> and we'll wind up with intramural athletics
I have no desire to eliminate football, just trim the fat.
I can certainly understand your feelings on quotas, but sexism is also
un-American and without Title IX athletics would be even more grossly
filled with sexual inequality. Title IX is not perfect, but the
attitude of big-money sports like football is why we need to have it.
Without it, schools would have hardly any women's teams.. and no matter
how you shake it, that is just wrong. There may be decades upon
decades of sports history featuring football or men's basketball, etc.
and millions of people may watch these sports.. it still doesn't come
close to justifying not giving women the same opportunities.
===
Deron Treadwell - [log in to unmask]
University of Maine '98
Home of the 1993 and 1999 Ice Hockey National Champions!
ONE-TWO.. WE WANT MORE!
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