New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-03-13
following table OF receipts for college sports In
England and America:
COST OF ENGLISH AND AMERICAN SPORTS.

COST OF ENGLISH AND AMERICAN SPORTS.
Yale. America 1888 rs
narVara America. ........................ 0SD W
nnenis! wanna America. 5000 %
princeton, America. 466l5 81
1t must be apparent to the reader who has had
the patience to follow me in the course OF these
estimates and comparisons that the expense Of
university athletics in England Is problem al
most as Intricate and confusing as a question OF
Indian finance. shall not undertake to supply
the details for oxford, but shall content myself
with fairly safe generalization While the
number of colleges Is larger at oxford than at
Cambridge. the attendance Of students is ABOUT
the same and the interest in university sports
certainly is not keener 1t is not probable that
the expense Of college sports Is materially greater
at OXFORD than a; Cambridge. At each univer-
sty about 10000 $4,000 is expended every
year in sport of all kinds. or practically about as
much as is handled by each Of the four American
colleges-Yale, Harvard, Princeton and Pennsyl-
vania The tho English universities, with their
boatrace on the Thames their crews at Henley
their rowing practice at home, and their nunler-
Gus cricket and football matches and athletic
contests. expend together bout 100000 year
on outdoor sport, or about cne-half of the as-
gregate receipts of the four American colleges
when are most prominent IN atnietcS
1t is also noticeable that these sports are not
conducted at Cambridge-the remark applies
with equal force to Oxford-for the purpose OF
money making, but for legitimate ends of physi-
cal exercise and recreation in large communities
Of students The gate money is not large
source of profit in Cambridge as it Is in Ameri-
can collegiate contests If the general table
which | have presented above be critically "
amned the fact will be disclosed that abou. nine
tenths Of the money used in sport comes out OF
the 1000 members Of the college clubs in CONF
paratively small subscriptions. The other tenth
may be attributed To- gate fees for university
cricket. football and athletics; end good portion
Of this is reserve ed for paymen, OF mortgages on
recreation fields purchased By the students. The
gate fees are lower in English university towns
than in America, and the financial exhibits OF
the leading organizations do not reveal large
margin of profit Princeton surplus of S15,GI4
would be an anomaly at either oxford or Cam.
bridge. English students pay for their sport
themselves and do not make a lucrative business
OF it, Town shows are not organized for the sake
of money to be made at the gates.
MORE FOR THE MONEY AT CAMBRIDGE.
What is also conspicuous at Cambridge is the
extent to which facilities for recreation and ex-
ercise are employed by the main body Of stu
dents. In an American college $4,000 is mainly
expended in manning university boat and in
sending into the field baseball nine. football
team and representative group of athletes At
cambridge the university crews and teams are
made up Of picked men, and twenty colleges arc
also competing in sport on the river and in the
field. The great majority of the 2,000 subscrib-
ers to the college athletic funds are personally
interested either In rowing, cricket football ath-
letics or lawn tennis. and are in the habit OF
spending portion of their time in some form Of
physical exercise The 10000 expended at Cam
bridge in sport is an investment that yields large
returns 1t helps to interes; large community
Of students in athletic exercises of ALI kinds and
to promot" physical training ana Development
For this reason there Is never any cutlery either
at Oxford or Cambridge against the expense Of
college sport. Fathers want 20 have their sons
strong. sinewy, well trained IN bodily exercise
and expert in sports Of the field and the river;
and they do not begrudge the money expended
for this purpose. Nor is there any evidence
that there has been any marked increase
in the cost of college sport in English uni
versities during the last twenty-five years Cam
llon ago. and whose sons are there now, have as +
sured me that the expense Of college sports has +
not increased, but has virtually remained as it I
was in their own day. They also assert that
through the amalgamation system the burdens /
are more equitably distributed and sports more
Systematically conducted than in their own col
eye days. Indeed there strong grounds for .
The belief that while $4,000 il expended AT each .
university in outdoor sport there is less dissipa-
ton and less gambling among students on ac-
count of the exceptional interest taken by them /
Irrational recreation and manly contests for the /
head of the river or coveted place. on teams. A
manlier. more robust and more temperate body (
IF educated men is now at the universities than
was formerly to be found there
If direct comparison be made between Ameri .
IAN and English colleges. the bin of expenses will
be about the same. and the advantages and dis
advantages which are derived from superior
business management and larger gate receipts
will need to be carefully balanced. AT oxford
md Cambridge the financial burden of athletics
falls mainly upon the students, whereas in
America a considerable portion Of il is shifted
upon the general public which Is willing to pay
for glimpses of football baseball or
,thletic games The expenses of American stu
tents are lChtened by superior business manage
nent. but college sport may be to some exter.
by these public exhibitions and
money making methods. The university sports
n England receive less public patronage, bur en-
lite a more active interest among students them
elves. Every student goes In for them If Cam
ridge pays 10000 year for its sports II gets
more for its money in exercise and recreation
han an American college whose receipts reach
he same level. A larger proportion Of the stu
tents are Systematically at work on the river
md in the ielG at Cambridge than at Yale and
harvard and more general interest Is felt in
,hysicai training, manly competition and ra-
ional recreation. l. ~ r.