I can’t help but even wonder if those stadiums actually turn a profit?
Regardless, my rural yeehaw high school was a fine point of all of this. My dad kept pointing out how loaded the superintendent and administration was while the school itself was low quality and practically falling apart. There was even this stench of “we suck and we’re proud of it!”
If that shit wasn’t profitable, then it is a sad display of what this country values: us children of poor families may get to engage in some sports until we’re 18 and then it’s off to some backbreaking blue-collar job, or a retail job that’s minimum wage or a buck above if you’re lucky. If you go to college there’s a good chance that porky ain’t in the hiring mood and you get mocked for your arrogance in trying to do social mobility.
And if it is profitable, why the hell would they want to invest in academics or their teachers? They don’t make the superintendent money and after all this country tries to predetermine us rural folk into trades or military. The propaganda that porky is “all set” with college level professionals is all part of the war on education.
Who in gods name wants a starbucks over a local coffee shop? Lower quality and more expensive.
I know it’s not the real answer but I just pretend it’s necessary for the sports to bring in the big bucks to fund the massively inflated coach salaries in a giant “chicken and egg” scam where each side of the equation justifies the cost of the other side as part of the same huge fucking scam
As someone from outside the US I’ve always found it baffling that not only does Yankee universities have official sports teams, those teams are also professional teams with huge money involved.
When I went to university, the athletic high point of the year was student unions doing a beer race in inflatable boats on the campus pond.
Yeah its a very “they’re dabbing on us” feeling when they talk about needing to fund X or Y important thing and yet the first thing they do when they get the money is spend it on something else. And they don’t even hide it. Like apparently we’re all supposed to be mad if you give a homeless guy money for a sandwich and instead he buys a beer but when taxes go up to pay for public works and it just results in the cops getting an APC it’s just part of life.
