New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-01-03
MONEY IN COLLEGE GAMES
A FEW COMMENTS ON THE ExPENDI-
TuREs OF THE FOUR GREAT
UNIVERSITIES.


There has been much said for and against
the large expenditures made by American col
leges in order to turn out a good crew. nine
football eleven and track athletic team each
year. Many an experienced business man has
given It a his opinion that large amounts OF
money are wasted each year In unnecessary ex-
penditure, which is allowed because. and only
because the receipts of college athletic games
arc 20 large The arguments are threadbare
nowadays that too high entrance fees are
charged; that gate receipts need not and ousn'
not to be % high: that the college homogeneous
ought to make out budget Of coming expenses
for the year and charge In gate money inc
proper amount for baseball. football and track
meets to equal. but not to exceed. that esti-
mate And, as a clincher to their arguments
the receipts Of Yale. Princeton. Pennsyivaha
and Harvard for the college year OF io'" arc
being Just now cited to illustrate the iact '"a'
II IL absurd for college boys to handie sue"
large sums in connection with sports that are
supposed to be for relaxation, amusement
health--anything you will but mchey-maN"s
Val. during this year of 1895 received from all
sources for athletic purposes-that Is 10 say.
from voluntary subscriptions. gate receipts an"
a on-s59. 78V Sc; Harvard about dor the re-
rort Of the graduate manager OF athletics Is not
vet public property $4,000: Pennsylvania
s4a go 70. and Princeton. $46.6lo 81. Tha'
Given a rough total Of $20S314 % taken IN IN
one year BY the athletic sports OF four OF our
leading athletic colleges.
Anv one who likes to tinker with figures VIII
add that this signifies that IN nVe years 'o"'
American universities take In $lVoVoo" io
snorts that are supposed to be the a"use"e'
~ the students who are amateurs NOT hteres'eu
IN any way for financial gan ana VINO oo HUI
care penny whether any money Is maze OF i'e''
received or spent, provided they get COCO games
and can meet the crews eleVehs. MINES on,
.-.cx teams they consider to be their natural
rivals.
-. r,or 70 saw nothing of college presi-
dents and professors in faculties. to demand
,h.t .omsthing be done to stop these large
ererc,a, transactions What is to be done does
-. ..sr, IN he so frankly announced some
s,s. +he dscon.inuance OF intercohesia'o
.s,.,;.s That would certainly lessen receip'S
"a .xnerditures: but even these ADVISERS can
h.r5,v hold out on this tack when they realize
,hot they wish to stop boys from playing games
nacar.e other people insist on paying d 'e
.u,n m sac these games, without cohsuei "e WV
question that perhaps professors anu .,s
have found that these athetcs are H"1"
ovt,sts for Youthful enthusiasm that 'ieH' ~
s.,,,,,.s. would seek outlets of less physicaily
and morally upright and usefni oroer' sum-
advise that gate receipts be reduced OH III.
theory that II the boys have no money 10 spe"u
they will not run up these big DIS zane 'o"s
.a,rr.vs and spend So for football suits and
5000 for rowing shells.
These good people fail to realize the srow'"
-. ~. athletic .n,rit in the last two decades,
or 10 recognize that in a certain way thlS
to cop1ethinQ which tne VI
roc,ors Of universities cannot control. Then'
.oo they disregard such important Items
&C The fact that S11116 SO was voluntarily
subscribed by Yale men this year for the pur-
nose OF sending the Yale crew to henle!' anu
that 81 1914 20 was subscribed in ADDITION by 'he
Yale Giee Club out Of its surplus TOT the same
purpose, making $4,000 in voluntary supscr'p-
lions in one year for one single branch OF co"eee
athletics at one OF our colleges Inese perSonS
<u 20 ra,lize also.that this experiment of limit
ing gate receipts has already been treu' anu
they do not know of the experiment OF 1000 d.
Harvard where a bad deficit was the result; IT
being remembered that the iinanclai part VI
Harvard athletics is in the hands Of respon-
sible men appointed by the faculty. that H. 'he
Athletic Committeeman who are neither un-
dercraduates nor likely to waste money but VINO
ore amounted as direct checks on unnecessary
-.rd,,rras and who are accountants of re-
pute.
In other words most Of these criticisms come
from, a cursory examination Of earnest people
who feel and rightly too. that jolly sport or
Young men in four colleges ought not ia COST
100000 a year. This is reasonable concep-
ton and i; has busted the brains of college au-
thoritics for many day to discover now 10
check the extraordinary expenditures ana re-
ceipis in sport without killing what is valu-
able thing for the young men, even supposihe
the sport could be killed in any way short OF
closing the universities themselves. These men
have practically come to the conclusion that the
amount of receipts and expenditures Is. witnh
limits OF course. immaterial provided there IS no
gross waste Of money and provided there Is not
a deficit wear after year. They have therefore.
appointed the graduate manager at Harvard.
They have appointed such men Mr.. Camp
and Mr. Richards at Yale and the Advisory
Board at Princeton to see that first. the expen-
diture is not wasteful. and that. second, the
deficit is checked at once II 1t appear In any one
year
Look at the comparative figures that follows:
W.. ox. 90, S.. sss: 4ss s. .s sHsG' /,
Penn.sissnis lyear ending septem- "a o.o-s ,,o.z,o
Der &c. 1888 ss 1855 81 SSSii %
Yale has surplus this year, then, Of So I9 20;
Princeton a surplus Of S15.G74 35 and Pennsyl-
van,a a deficit Of Cost II. AS the Harvard fig
ures are not yet made public. these cannot be
added, but II is safe to say that Harvard has at
the very least a surplus Of $1,000. and II is
probably nearer $4,000. Princetons large sur
plus ought to be cut down nearly Slo'VW because
she has no crew. and because crew is always an
expense seldom bringing in any receipts except
by voluntary subscriptions. These are seldom
sought now. except for a special purpose such
as the Yale Henley crew. because the large bal
ances by football games usually pay the deficit
on the rowing account twice or three times over.
As Pennsylvania this year spent $1,000 on her
crew, It is not far out Of the way to allow that
amount as against Princeton's surplus. which
would bring II down to about $4,000.