whatithink
GOLD
I really don't buy your opening sentence above. If it was qualified with football and basketball, then I'd say it's slightly closer to the truth. That said, I don't even then agree ... its all about the money. My eldest just started in college - the football ticket allocation for the students section in his college is 10% of the stadium capacity. They have to pay for those tickets, if they get them (demand based, money still taken!). That's it. They are not expecting students to fill the rest of the stadium though.I think part of the purpose of college sports is to create an on campus social scene.
Colleges have symphonies and theater productions. This serves to entertain both the audience and the participants. At many schools, sports fit into that space.
It gets weird when alumni donations turn out to depend on the W/L record of the football team. That's when you get scholarships, million-dollar coach salaries, and so on. But that's nothing to do with sports. You'd see a 5 million dollar theater director salary if there was TV revenue on the line.
Generally football (mostly) and basketball pay for everything else, if even. Take those two out, and the rest fold as unsustainable. Nobody is going to pay additional tuition fees to subsidize college sports. As for the amount the college coaches get paid, that's just obscene.