It's definitely not just Rice. Look at just about *any* major metro area with an abundance of major league professional athletics. It's a rare city among them that doesn't have collegiate and/or minor league attendance woes. There are a few exceptions -- Washington does pretty well even with the Seahawks in town, as do a few other mostly Southern locations (Miami, Atlanta). But for the most part, there's just too much competition for the sports entertainment dollar.

To add insult to injury, though, it's not just major league sports in the case of UH and Rice. It's allegiance to *other* schools, most notably UT and A&M, that really are the dagger to the heart.

And as the BCS stranglehold continues and conference affiliation becomes evermore critical to gaining marketshare and mindshare, it's only going to get worse for Rice and all the other football "have nots" outside the BCS.

Sad.

Please do NOT get me started on the topic of people who graduated from Rice with a HPER major because they couldn't hack the academic programs.

I know architecture and music are easier to get into than engineering or liberal arts at Rice, but people in architecture and music generally can hack it in the mainstream programs. That is not always true of student-athletes, some of whom have substantially lower qualifications, and frankly, less interest in academics, lower academic aspirations, and a substantial time/energy/effort sink in their athletic programs which mainstream students, even in the architecture and music programs, don't have.

Student-athletes who come to Rice to study are great in my book. Student-athletes who come and can't hack it, even if it's only because the time they need to hack it is taken up with the football programs they are paid scholarships to participate in, are a problem. Those people are there at Rice; denying they exist, and denying they present a problem for the academic community, does a serious disservice to any rational discussion of the role of athletics at Rice.

Ginger, point taken. My problem with the assertions made by the "Southern Ivy League" person is that he seems to be implying that there are no "real students" currently playing football for Rice. That ain't right.

I am not opposed to student athletics, because I think there is some value in the diversity of students they bring to Rice, I like the idea that a Rice education is available to people who might not be able to get one without this option, and I think sporting events provide a communal "quality of life" benefit for the student body.

That said, I would not shed a single tear if the Rice football team did not compete in Division 1A, or even exist. The football program is in conflict with the educational mission of Rice University in significant ways that the other sports programs generally are not.

My only concern about getting out of Div 1A would be that it would reduce Rice's national exposure and mindshare with the public. Perhaps the football program should be funded and run as a marketing campaign, if that's its utility. (But I digress...)

I think the large sums of money moving through the system distract the administration into believing that the program have value beyond how they affect the educational mission of the university. The recent dust-up between the athletic department and the student radio station is an example of this. That the athletic department could grab portions of the student-run radio station in order to more cheaply market their games is an example, to my mind of the tail wagging the dog. [I know this involved a basketball game, but I think the problem still stems from football.]

In general, I don't believe that the athletic department should ever be allowed to compromise the educational excellence of the University. They get voted outside the hedges first.