The cost of college sports

I'm all in favor of co-curricular activities. Students need to be involved in sports, or music, or drama, or other activities outside their area of study in order to be well-rounded. For some students, it is the co-curricular activities that keep them in school. But I think the sense of proportion goes right out the window when it comes to college sports, and in particular college football.

Here are some interesting numbers from the December 2008 / January 2009 issue of Fast Company magazine (page 48):

-- The college football economy is worth an estimated yearly $6,000,000,000. (Yes, that's six billion dollars!)
-- Ohio State University had the nation's largest athletic budget last year: $109,382,222. That's nearly $110,000 for each of it's 980 athletes. (Except that when I do the math, I get $111,614.51 per athlete!)
-- Fox paid $330,000,000 to air all Bowl Championship Series games except the Rose Bowl from 2007-2010.
-- WINS: Merchandise royalties for the University of Texas doubled to $8,000,000 after it won the 2006 national championship.
-- LOSSES: NBC Pays $9,000,000 per year for the broadcast rights to home games at Notre Dame, which went 3-9 last season. Ratings have dropped 47% since 2005.
-- New Orleans got an economic boost estimated at $400,000,000 from hosting last year's national championship.
-- The 619 schools competing in NCAA football in 2007 tallied total attendance of 48,751,861.
-- Last season's 32 bowl games collectively drew 1,700,000 fans. Another 129,000,000 households tuned in to TV broadcasts.
-- Average home-game attendance in 2007 at Texas A&M's Kyle field: 82,207.
Estimated population in 2007 of College Station, Texas, home to Texas A&M: 80,315.