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The Finances, Challanges, And Future Of Intercollegiate Athletics

Recorded on: June 26th, 2015

Air Date: June 29th, 2015

At the June 26th Friday Forum, Professor Bill Harbaugh and Professor Emeritus Dennis Howard will describe the benefits, challenges, and future of college athletics. They will talk about the future of funding and the impact of big time college sports on campus, in the local community -- even around the United States and the world.

The University of Oregon Department of Intercollegiate Athletics has enjoyed notable success both on sports fields and in fundraising. UO athletic events bring millions of dollars into the local economy. Local citizens are, however, of at least two minds about the role of athletics on campus and in this community with a wide variety of opinions and passions. Those differing opinions often lead to heated debates about the role of athletics in Eugene and surrounding communities.

Many in the community say that the fondness for Ducks teams and other world class sporting events contributes to a sense of community pride and brings people together in a unique and spirited way. Others express concerns about the exploitation of student athletes say that the resources expended on athletics come at the expense of academics and other community resources.

Considered an international authority on sports finance, Howard was head of the Marketing Department for the UO Lundquist College of Business before becoming its Dean. He has held various positions at the UO for more than 25 years, with one five-year break to head the graduate program in sport management at Ohio State University. His PhD is from Oregon State University.

Harbaugh has a Phd in Economics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He’s been an economics professor at UO since 1995, and has edited the UO Matters blog since 2009. His research on the neural foundations of charitable giving has been published in Science, and featured in the New York Times. He has been on UO's Intercollegiate Athletics Committee since 2011, and this June 3rd he was elected as the UO Senate VP and President-Elect on a platform that included a call for a new UO Task Force to fix the broken relationship between Duck athletics and UO’s academic side.

copyright, 2015 KLCC