Rethinking the Benefits of College Athletics - Jonathan Robe, Forbes

Do athletics truly promote the academic mission of schools such as LSU? Martin certainly seems to think so, as he gushes that weekly televised football games give viewers “a chance to see what LSU is about.” How so exactly? Is LSU about being able to toss an inflated pig bladder around a old cow pasture? Even if television viewers manage to catch the repeated airings of LSU’s promotional spot that airs during commercial breaks in the football games, doesn’t the fact that the game is 60 minutes long (not counting breaks) and the ad 30-60 seconds long tell the viewers much more about where LSU’s true priorities are than any of the content of that advertisement? On top of that, I suspect that viewers really don’t care all that much anyway about those ads–how many “fanatics” leap and cheer and high-five each other over an exceptionally well-done ad? Anyone?