College Sports Inc.: The Athletic Department vs. the University

``We are not the enemy,'' said Michigan football coach Bo Schembechler addressing a meeting of academics, but the contention of Sperber, an associate professor of English at Indiana University and a former sportswriter, is that the college sports establishment is precisely that. He demonstrates that at fewer than 5% of colleges do the sports programs operate in the black, including schools that participate in big-time football and basketball, supposedly the large money-makers. Deficits, he maintains, are made up by excessive student activity fees, donations from local boosters (alumni rarely contribute to sports programs), absurdly high ticket prices and, in the case of public colleges, state subsidies. Athletic departments, Sperber charges, are like corporations, with vastly overpaid executives and employees--i.e. students--whom they fire at will by canceling their scholarships. The differences are that sports departments are managed inefficiently and, when they show a loss, the colleges pick up the tab. This startling, depressing study should be read by every college faculty member and, ideally, by every taxpayer. (Sept.)