Scrimmage 10/30

[Diemilkweed]

If a student feels that passionately about the subject then a Division I campus is a strange place for them to be. They presumably know going in there are sports teams, much like Kent, Toledo, Cincinnati, etc. The football stadium is the first thing you see getting off the exit. There are plenty of D3 schools out there, but alas, many also charge student fees related to their programs. I heard Reed College has no athletics whatsoever, so that might be an option.

Plenty of students attend games, and those that don't are missing out on a fantastic experience. You'd think people who post on this board would understand that the most.

Nobody here suggested it wasn't a fantastic experience. You introducing that is a perfect example of a strawman argument.

And you don't have to feel all that strongly about it - you only need to have it make you go from "well, ok" to "meh, rather not".

Believe it or not, for a very large number of people who go to college, the athletics teams really don't matter one way or the other. That's not why they are there. You might be going to BG for genetics research. To become a teacher. Or to study Computer Science. Or theater. All of which are very strong programs at BGSU. None of which require you to be connected to the athletics in any way.

[hammb]

Or to study Computer Science.

As a CS graduate I can assure you I was one of VERY few CS students regularly attending sporting events.

Regardless of major it's a very difficult task to argue that the general student population at BG gives a damn about our sports teams. Sure, some do, but we have what 20k kids on campus? And MAYBE get a couple thousand of them to a game at the Doyt and 500-1000 to the ice arena or Stroh? I mean it's not just a BG problem, and probably a good chunk of the student population doesn't care about sports (BG or otherwise). Does the BG News still do "people on the street"? When they asked them sports related questions back when I would read the paper it wasn't at all uncommon for half the people to answer stuff like, "Never been to a game" or "didn't even realize they were playing this week".

Even more tough to argue (no matter how great the experiences are) the value students are getting. I think the number is up to about $800/yr from general fund of all full time students going straight to intercollegiate athletics (not counting the "facilities" portion which I'm sure is in large part to our sporting venues). For $800 I can buy season tickets to every sport we have on campus and still pocket some cash for parking, concessions, etc.