JGPR2 said: ""Just to play devil's advocate, but by supporting non-successful sports, what's the point? So the women's sports aren't as popular? Okay. Who is gaining anything from it then? The teams are playing to half-sold stadiums, the news isn't covering them, who is gaining from it? the schools are making no money... the players I guess are profiting?"
People gaining from it are the women participating in the sport. Just because they don't make millions of dollars for the college does not mean it is not worthwhile. There are lots of benefits to playing sports, physical activity, friendships, developsportsmanship and other things. These sports alsoprovide jobs at the college to coaches, trainers etc."
I fully agree with all this. Though, the one issue I have is that of how the the players are treated. If you’re looking at a school with, say, a major football program and one that has a stadium with the seating capacity of, say, an NFL stadium there are issues. The students do all of the work, yet, basically get nothing in return. The games for major football schools are shown weekly on ESPN. Yet, only the school can profit. Now, some may say that yes, these kids are at a school that, in addition to football has great academics as well. Problem is, those classes that the football team is assigned to are shoddy at best, and will do nothing to help them going forward if they don’t make it pro. And, due to the amount of money that the school profits off these kids, if they decide to just not go to class, they get a pass.
Furthermore, these kids are not allowed to accept any gifts or endorsement deals either. Hell, a few yers ago, there was a story about how a football player was unable to afford a meal plan. School couldn’t give him one becuse that would be considered a gift. It’s been compared to, and I think it is accurate that this is slave labor. The kids do all the work, and the school gets 100 per cent of the profit made from these kids.