Football U.: Spectator Sports in the Life of the American University (review)

Football U.: Spectator Sports in the Life of the American University takes a fresh look at the role of big-time college sports and, in the process, makes a compelling argument about the institution-building process. Douglas Toma appeals to inner images of college football that many of us hold, either from personal experience or television Saturdays, and challenges us to think about how these images relate to the culture of colleges, the commitments of alumni to their alma maters, and the ability of major universities to raise money. He builds a persuasive case that success on the sports field is central to the success of universities, but does the case hold up beyond schools with a history of victory?

A good writer as well as a skilled lawyer, Toma tells an interesting story about college sports, creating vivid mental pictures of fall football weekends, complete with tailgate parties. While many academics and policymakers criticize college sports for violence, corruption, and high costs, Toma argues that these flaws should not cause us to lose sight of the value of the big football weekend. He demonstrates how the legal skills of argumentation can build a defense that should be appealing to sports fans with an interest in academe.

It is noteworthy how well Toma weaves insights from the literature on higher education into a book that could attract general readers. A scholar of higher education, he crafts chapters that draw upon John Thelin's colorful histories and sprinkles in compelling insights from the literatures on students, the commercialization of sports in higher education, public support for higher education, and alumni relations and development—areas well-represented in the scholarship in our field. Toma also ventures into the role of brands, symbols, and media—topics our field has not studied sufficiently. Toma builds the case for viewing sports as an integral part of academic life and the institution-building process in major universities.

Since it was written like a defense statement, however, Toma's text does not always provide a balanced or critical treatment of college sports. A contrasting view can be found in Derek Bok's Universities in the Marketplace: The Commercialization of Higher Education (2003). Bok describes historical patterns of the commercialization of athletics, arguing that universities can overinvest in sports teams, creating financial problems. Bok draws a parallel between overinvestment in sports and excessive spending on the development of electronic degree programs. He notes also that enthusiastic commercialization in sports can have high costs for universities, leading to long-term financial problems.

We find no such criticism or constraints on exuberance in Toma's treatment of commercialization:

Institutions must then hope people remember [that] a university lies beyond the football stadium, and that commercialism associated with spectator sports does not erode the integrity that society expects of higher education. . . . Prestige may be more important than actuality of quality here—perceptions may matter more than an actual job being done. Given the connections between athletics success and institutional prestige, a weak football program can prove to be a distraction when seeking external support to advance key initiatives and agendas. Along the same lines, a strong program may encourage needed support.

(p. 120)

Thus, Toma skims over the downside of commercialization by extolling the virtues of winning. Having a winning team, he argues, brings in state funding, private gifts, and students from in state and out of state. He does not examine research literature to determine whether there is a proven statistical relationship between winning sports teams and enrollment. Rather he makes the assertion largely with anecdotes and interviews with officials in 11 football universities to build his case.

But what about the experiences of the many institutions that have made substantial investments in sports and have not had teams with national titles? There is a great deal of financial risk associated with the goal of becoming a contender in...