Why?

by Savage, Around Ye Olde Colonial College, Thursday, January 30, 2014, 11:53 (3711 days ago) @ JD in Portland

I'm not trying to troll, and forgive my "bad personality", I'm just hoping that perhaps you might have a more thorough answer than I received elsewhere on the board.

Why do luxury boxes have no place in college football? Is there something about college football or the American university model that should preclude wining and dining of potential donors during the marquee social events of the year? Is there something about college football that means corporations and big donors shouldn't be able to get some accommodation for giving the University large sums of money? Is there something that's bad for the football program, or the University at large, about having rich people enjoying the game in the stadium? Is there something harmful to the football program, or University at large, about having different sections of fans in different accommodations with different price points? Is there something fundamentally wrong with showcasing the student athletes to the economic and societal elite?

How does a Catholic university change the calculus? Must we start at first principles of whether a Catholic institution running a major sports program is moral endangerment? If not, then we can begin with the differentiation of a Catholic university versus an arbitrary university explored above. Is there something morally scandalous about a Catholic university wining and dining potential donors during football games? Is there something morally dangerous or wrong about providing tickets and accommodations to corporate partners and existing and potential donors? Even understanding the moral and societal dangers of "unfettered capitalism", in the words of our new Pontiff, is there something specific about private boxes that makes them morally wrong, or is it only the second-order association with presumed-guilty-unless-proven-innocent capitalists that bothers you? Is there any moral consideration whatsoever with bisecting the football game watching experience of fans in the stadium, and if so, how is this any different from the bisection that already exists by not providing tickets for free to all comers?


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