How is it a myth? You simply described an internal accounting transaction. How much does the athletic department give to the University in general? I bet a lot more than $375,000.

The U of O should immediately give a refund of $16.75 to each enrolled student to take the skybox burden from their shoulders.

The Cheer:

WE ARE -- DELUSIONAL STATE!

Not unlike that in Happy Valley, PA & University Towns, USA the past 40 years. They ought to change the UofO mascot name to the Feigning Ducks.

The Athletic dept may indeed not path for itself. But the $375K for a Skybox (Presidential Suite) and 80 Club Level seats would be paid by a outside party, so why should the Office of the President not have to pay the going rate?

Because then it comes out of middle class kids' tuition, which is just wrong.

The University of Nike should shoulder its own marketing budget. Students who thought it was all about getting an education should not be forced into paying for corporate socialism.

This is why I am going to tell my math-genius kid to not even THINK about going to U of O. They keep operating this way and most of the people in Oregon seem to think that is just fine. Who cares about education when we can fund a sports and entertainment business?

One of the big subsidies is the cap on overhead charges. There the athletic department is simply not carrying its share of the load, thanks to the memorandum of understanding referred to in the linked article. Given the way education is being short changed, that's just criminal.

Why the State of Oregon should be sponsoring athletics at any level is beyond me.

The state's strapped for cash...here's a solution. Shut down all of the college athletic programs. Shut down all the high school and middle school athletic programs. Take all of the land that is used for athletic fields (currently exempt from property tax, by the way) and sell it. If private athletic organizations want to buy it and operate it privately (as a for-profit company) then they are welcome to raise capital or sell stock and but it up and pay taxes.

While we're at it...merge all of the state's Universities into one common system with one administration and end the overlapping programs (where PSU, OSU and UofO might have the exact same program). You attend a given campus by the program you are studying, rather than "I wear Green!" or "I'm a Beaver!"

Most of the tickets for those seats are given to major donors or potential major donors. It is very effective in cultivating donor relations and generating additional donations.

Major donors to what -- the English department? I doubt it. Probably donors to the athletic program.

Oregon used to be like Mississippi. No more -- now we're like Alabama.

Jack, so long as you don't get to be like Texas. Nobody, but nobody, is that bad. (I recently got yet another query to contribute money to my old high school, as it apparently has money to renovate its football field again but doesn't have money for paper or basic equipment. I wrote back, telling the crew involved with the solicitation that I'd be glad to put everything I had into the school, so long as my and others' contributions were matched with cuts to the school football budget. I have yet to receive a response, and I'll probably never get one.)

For about three years now, my standard response to fund-raising appeals from UO has been, "You have all the money you need; you're spending it foolishly."

Worth pointing out that the rest of the OUS is still pissed at Lavierre for (gasp!) raising tenured professor salaries while the other schools lagged behind.

I can also think of at least academic departments at UO (business and journalism) that have had significant capital improvements over the last few years. Everyone is getting a piece.

As a counter to what Erik H is saying: There is a place for athletics in education. You can learn things there you will never learn in the classroom. You are taught how to lose, how to win, how to work as a team, how to compete and how to be physical. These are important lessons. No chess club or mathletic event will every substitute for the hard lessons learned on the field.
Also plenty of people work in and for athletic programs at all levels of education. It's part of our economy and culture. Athletics were vital to my ability to leave Eastern Oregon and go to college.
That said the amount of money spent and the priority athletics get is beyond ridiculous. Music and art programs should be just as well preserved. But to argue that any of these do not have a place in education shows a narrow view of education.
But if the point is being made that these things should be privatized. That private interests can do a better job at educating the population. I daresay I am not open minded enough to accept that concept no matter what evidence is presented.
And for that I apologize.

"Major donors to what -- the English department? I doubt it. Probably donors to the athletic program."

I can't speak for the English Department because I was an Accounting grad. I have been the recipient of some of those tickets which I can directly attribute to my donations to the Business School. While there, I had chatted with invitees/donors of other university academic departments.