A look at the planning budget shows that claim to be false at Maryland. Student fees at Maryland cover the expenditures of the non-revenue intercollegiate sports in the planning budget. These compulsory student fees fund intercollegiate competition in baseball, swimming, soccer, tennis, and women's basketball and field hockey. The non-revenue intercollegiate sports tend to be as professionalized as men's football and basketball. Many of the athletes involved are zealously recruited, may be admitted despite inability to qualify under regular standards, may get full scholarships and expenses, and are required to spend more than forty hours a week on the sport.
Ordinary students get no discernible benefit from the non-revenue intercollegiate sports.
They have almost no chance of participating on a walk-in basis. These sports draw few spectators, so the student body does not even get entertainment from them. Some make the claim for athletic programs that, while not bringing profits directly, they bring name recognition, increase student applications, and make it easier to collect money from alumni, state legislatures, and big donors to academic programs. Successful sports do bring a university celebrity. But it is doubtful that such celebrity pays off financially or in other ways for the academic enterprise of the university.