The Controversy of Intercollegiate Sports
Rachael Prozinski
Abstract
Intercollegiate sports have been around for hundreds of years. Today, intercollegiate sports play a huge part in many college campuses across the world. Sports not only bring the campus together, but the community as well. Some believe that sports are more prominent in deciding where to attend college than the academic aspect of the school. However, the controversy lies in whether the universities should realign their focus on marketing themselves as highly accredited institutions or market the high rank of their winning sports records attracting the top athletes and coaches. The discrepancy comes from the many different benefits and costs of focusing solely on the athletic part of an institution. The institutions need to focus on what the mission and overall goal of their school is in order to reach a conclusion. Although prominent Big Ten schools, much like the University of Minnesota Twin Cities, seem to be very influential to the intercollegiate world, the benefits as well as the costs must be taken into account when thinking about the institution as a whole.
