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bearspot's avatar

Not intending to interrupt this debate, but I've seen UChicago get mentioned before. I honestly didn't know their story. Looked it up and found this not very recent article. Makes for some interesting light reading and contemplation. For those who may be interested to consider where the experiences of U of C and Cal line up and where they really don't, check out the article.

https://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/17/sports/ncaafootball/at-the-university-of-chicago-football-and-higher-education-mix.html

Ok, back to the big time college football stuff...

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PawlOski's avatar

It's an easy arm chair hypothetical, but the reality is that was already nearly a century ago and this U of Chicago example has been an outlier ever since. If it was that easy to cast aside big time athletics for schools, I'm sure more would have followed suit. But the financial realities of major modern college athletics have made it harder to quit than when U of Chicago made that decision. The financial aspects of their decision I'm sure only needed to play a very small part of that decision. They only had to make an ethical decision, rather than also having to worry much about a financial one.

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Rose Bowl Oski's avatar

Santa Clara and UOP are more recent and probably better comparisons than U of Chicago. Both schools disbanded football in the 1990s. All three schools are private, so none had the luxury of state funds to bail them out.

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PawlOski's avatar

Did St Mary's have a football program at some point?

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