WVU Beer Sales

Link to Article: http://content.usatoday.com/communities/campusrivalry/post/2011/06/west-virginia-board-approves-beer-sales-at-football-stadium/1

          In class on October 4^th, 2011 we discussed sports in high school and in college.  This topic can also be found in Coakley (2009) text on pages 472-512.  We looked at many aspects of sports and education, one of which being the abuses in intercollegiate sports.  This article is about how West Virginia University has now approved to allow the sale of beer in their stadiums starting this football season.  This is another example of how collegiate sports have transformed into the commercial sports model.  Sometimes big-time colleges have their priorities a little out of order, with making money usually number one on that list.  This gives us an example of how some big-time colleges use sports to reach that number one priority to make money.  Coakley explains on page 502, that big college sports have been turned into part of the entertainment industry, with commercial goals and operating methods that aren’t related with the educational mission of the school.  The argument could be made that this is a way for West Virginia University to make more profits by the use of their athletic teams, which can help a struggling athletic department who didn’t break even.  Most division 1 athletic programs operate at a loss, with 82% doing so just last year.  Coakley goes on to provide some recommendations for change.  One of the major ones he lists has to do with the NCAA seeing this commercial transformation as a solution rather than a problem.  It could improve revenues, which can only help a struggling athletic program.  Over all, many universities use their athletic programs to make money, which can suggest that their priorities can sometimes be out of line, but in the end, sometimes this can help struggling programs that fail to break even on a yearly basis.