MU's embarrassing football spending spree
Yael T. AbouhalkahThe University of Missouri certainly is not the only school in the nation to go totally overboard in spending to expand its football stadium and football program.
But at a time when the state legislature is grossly underfunding educational programs at MU, school officials have announced a grand building program for the sports department.
With the help of the anonymous donors on Kansas City Sports Trust, MU is going to expand its football stadium by a few thousand seats, build a new weight room for the Tiger players and spend tens of millions of dollars doing it.
(UPDATE: See my blog post on what do the donors for KC Sports Trust really want?)
Sure, private donors are supposed to pay for all of these these sports-related improvements, not taxpayers.
But that doesn’t let MU off the hook. Or other football-crazy schools, either.
The dollars spent on football can’t be spent on education.
Wow, what irony: The MU system is in an educational bind, having to cut tens of millions of dollars from is core function for the coming year.
And for all MU fans, this KU alum doesn’t much support this spending either in Lawrence.
The MU development shows the misplaced priorities of groups such as the Kansas City Sports Trust, a mysterious organization that reportedly gave $30 million to these improvements.
Seriously: If you are a member of that group, why would you want to remain anonymous?
Embarrassed?
Christopher Monley
10 months, 4 weeks agoNo, why should they be embarrassed? They want to remain anonymous as most people do when they give a big contribution to an organization. They don’t want every Tom, Dick, and Mary coming up to them to ask for money. Seriously: As a member of the media, you don’t understand that? As you said yourself, private donors will pay for the improvements so that money was not taking anything away from education. It has been proven time and time again that a successful football program leads to additional students enrolling at a school. MU and K-State are both proof of that in the last two decades. Whether you want to admit it or not, students choose schools not only for their academic pursuits but also social ones. Which includes sports.
Welcome to the real world.
Kent Mueller
10 months, 4 weeks agoHow can you say that takes money away from education? For that to be true you would have to know that if not for the gift for athletics that at least some of the funds would have been gifted for academics. You don’t know that. You don’t even know who the donors are. And if they choose to be anonymous, then it is none of your business who they are.
You rarely answer questions asked of you, so why should you expect a donor to give you his name?
After endorsing many proposals to tax people to spend money on projects, you now object to what private citizens do with their own money. I think you should stop trying to spend other people’s money.
Jon Stephens
10 months, 4 weeks agoWhile I understand your frustration, you are chasing a paper tiger (pun intended) in this argument. The fact that the state of Missouri (and most other states) are balancing their budgets on the backs of higher-education has little to do with how private citizens choose to donate their money. In fact, many alumni who donate to athletics also donate generously to academics. (I encourage you to ask your close friends at your beloved KU about that fact and update us?)
If we are going to go down the path of prioritizing how private dollars are donated, might I suggest that no one should donate to the Kauffman Center, Nelson Atkins or any other civic institution in KC until the KC Public Schools System and the crime rate are fixed?
George Hunsucker
Northland
10 months, 4 weeks agoYT, I realize your progresssssssssssssssive lust to tell people how to live their lives, according to YOUR ideas, but really. When higher education gets a grip on improving productivity(hint: professors teaching more), then get back to me on the need for increased funding.
As KC has aptly demonstrated, as have most public school systems, money is not the answer, so quit riding this dead horse.
Dominic Baldin
10 months, 4 weeks agoI cannot believe this guy gets paid to write this crap. Every position YT takes is grossly misinformed and bizarre. We all know your a KU homer, no one cares to read your substanceless attacks on Mizzou, who is only making their University/Program better. Jealously is a stinky cologne YT. Just so you know, Mizzou has some of the best academics in the country. One of the few Universities to have all schools of study on one campus, as well as being a member of the Association of American Universities.. Something your sad excuse for a University (Kansas) is not. It’s an invite only club bud. And our education programs are grossly underfunded? Where do you get this crap? We don’t have to rely on public funds for our programs, Mizzou raises it privately, so stick to KU you ninkumpoop.
Richard Lozano
10 months, 4 weeks ago“Sure, private donors will pay for these improvements, not taxpayers.”
“The dollars spent on football can’t be spent on education.”
The dollars spent on football can’t be spent on anything else by definition including life saving surgery for puppies. Save the puppies!
Terry Merriman
10 months, 4 weeks agoBefore you are corrected by a beak, Kansas is in fact a member of the AAU along with Texas and Iowa State. It doesn’t change the fact that this is a stupid article. People have the right to donate to whatever cause they wish to contribute to. And it doesn’t change the fact that enrollment at Missouri has increased every year since 2007, a trend that doesn’t seem to be happening at KU or K State.
Jon Whitten
10 months, 4 weeks agoMr. Baldin,
I have no dog in the MU/KU fight. But, according to academic rankings by US News and WR, Missouri is ranked 39 and Kansas 46 out of the top public schools. I don’t think either is considered an academic powerhouse.
However, if you are going to argue about the academic might of MU, you might want to at least check your spelling and grammar. I mean, you are a product of that system, right?
Seth Merenbloom
10 months, 4 weeks agoDid Yael feel the same way about the Kansas City Symphony’s fundraising efforts for their new facility? I have no idea, but I am assuming that accepting those donations weren’t embarrassing in Yael’s estimation.
Eric Andrews
10 months, 4 weeks agoYael, did you make the same commentary about the $58M in bonds that KU owes related to athletic improvements? What about the $75M in football upgrades that KSU announced earlier this year?
Jeff Cook
10 months, 4 weeks agoJust incredibly dumb on so many levels. These are private donations or money borrowed to be paid back. This is money that would not have been spent on “education” in the first place. It would have never existed, so to even hint that it is somehow stealing an education opportunity from some deserving engineer or social worker indicates you have no concept of logical argument. And since you brought it up…about what I would expect from kU grads.
Thomas Patten
10 months, 4 weeks agoI have no problem with a University spending a lot of money on something that will have a good ROI. It is not embarrassing at all to implement a plan that is economically sound. The real problem with the education portion is that economically it isn’t a sound part of the business model.
I find it more embarrassing that we as a country can’t educate our children without throwing more and more money at it. Almost everything I learned in college was from the textbook and a little practice. Last I heard, textbooks weren’t a part of tuition. For most classes, all we need is a good professor, a good book, and some old fashioned studying.
Clinton Thomas
10 months, 4 weeks agoWhat’s wrong Yael? No room to mention the recently completed $1 BILLION fundraising campaign Mizzou just completed for academics? I guess he’s too busy to busy to notice that Mizzou had expanded it’s journalism, engineering, business and life sciences departments and the medical school, all in the past 10 years. They’ve also done massive renovations to the student union and academic buildings on the quad. Sure, Mizzou has made budget cuts (like every public school in the country), but the athletic department has nothing to do with it.
Tracy Wakefield
10 months, 4 weeks agoWhy would anyone donate money to be spent on education? People need to earn their own sheep skin by hard work and suffering. University’s need to cut the pay of prof. and all involved in higher education. They need to realize they are public servants who exist as leaches off the tax payers an that those of us who generate income and jobs we have the right to spend our cash as we see fit. We are under no obligation to spend or as I see it waste money in donating to the academic side of the equation.
Brendan Begley
10 months, 3 weeks agoI’m a Kansas student and I can’t take this guy. I don’t blame MU for expanding their football facilities. They have to be able to compete in the SEC and facilities/stadiums have to be on par to recruit. This guy is so off base.