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. No one has brought forward any evidence of such a payoff. Several systematic research studies have found no significant correlation between winning teams and appropriations or donations to university academic programs. At Maryland, the university's fund-raiser told me that he believed the athletic program actually reduced donations. Those who give generously to the sports program seldom if ever contribute to funds that can be used for academic purposes.