Football: A nice idea, but more problematic than practical

By Jason Kennedy

The colors, the sponsors, the mascots, more sponsors, the crowd, and yes, even more sponsors, are all part of a typical Saturday morning in December. The glory days of college football, once a game full of pride and honor, has turned into an eight billion dollar industry. Do we really want to get involved in this business or does it detract from the values of a successful academic environment?

Indeed, we miss out on Saturday mornings full of gridiron battles. Sure, it would be nice to go to a game and see the Broncos take out a perennial powerhouse football team. However, these victories may be miniscule compared to the complications that would ensue with the addition of a college football program.

A stadium built for a Division I football program would cost the school millions of dollars, and will more than likely need to be funded by a major corporation. In return, this major corporation would expect to have their involvement well advertised. This would force the school to acknowledge a particular company as a major participant in a very expensive extracurricular activity.

The school would need to recruit players from across the nation to fill its' roster and create a new athletic budget to fit the huge expenses that come along with any football program. This could lead to the abandonment of non-profitable or less profitable sports programs.

Even the admission process would be affected by the reintroduction of football. When these athletes are recruited, they take up spots in the class that would otherwise be filled by students who don't excel on the football field. A student who works hard throughout high school getting good grades and being involved in numerous activities could lose his or her spot to a student who excels a few months out of the year on a football field. This would be unfair to the athletes, placing them in an environment in which it is difficult to succeed and to the non-athletes who may not get into their "dream" school because the school wants to profit off of another student who might draw larger crowds to games on Saturdays.

Almost all brand names would want their logos on the front of an NCAA football program's jersey, regardless of how well they are performing on the field. This would lead to issues regarding sponsorships from these major athletic outfitters. If they accept the bid from one particular company, it is going to become increasingly important to eliminate all other items that can be seen on the field, which may jeopardize their sponsorship.

Bribes and scandals result from the fact that coaches are paid a bonus for having a winning season or winning bowl games, but monetary scandals are not the only dangers. Extra practice hours are often added so that the team can be well prepared for their next big game; this takes away from study time in a very rigorous academic institution.

It is apparent that college football is much more complex than players, a coach, a ball and a field. With it come complications involving money, sponsors, schoolwork and motives. While having a football program initially sounds great and maybe even easy, the reality is that it will be a huge commitment, one that is likely to force the school to spend enormous sums of money with no guarantee of future returns. Maybe after things settle down and the game becomes less about money and more about school spirit, there could be a Bronco football team. As of right now, it's just not worth it.

û Jason Kennedy is a freshman.