(07-13-2017 06:10 PM)quo vadis Wrote:  It's just that I think that's how intercollegiate athletics should be supported - voluntarily, the way alumni support them. Students shouldn't be compelled to. That's my only complaint.

Why? Because athletics is a non-core mission of the school, as you've spent the last three pages of the thread stating. Your argument has remained very consistent.

But what you haven't done, which I asked you to do last post, is explain why you believe that a non-core mission of a school should only be electively funded by students. Why?

As an example: upgrading a campus-wide wifi network for higher speed doesn't serve the core mission of the school, since downloading textbooks, assignments, checking school email, etc. doesn't really require a high speed connection. But students demand it, so universities spend eight and probably nine figures in some cases to install and maintain IT infrastructure. What say you? Voluntary fees only, for that?

(07-13-2017 11:35 PM)arkstfan Wrote:  Making money was a happy accident and with that costs rose leading us to people heavily subsidizing to keep up

MAC, Sun Belt, even CUSA schools, could all band together and simply decree to themselves that they will fund their football teams at FCS levels, with the exception of providing 85 full scholarships instead of 63 (which is peanuts, relatively).

Could do that, and remain in FBS per the rules.

Is that what you desire?