The College Football Facilities Arms Race

The future University of Oregon Indoor Practice Facility (all renderings from the UO press release)

It’s Saturday, October 23, 2021, and as I write this sentence it is less than an hour before the kickoff of the game at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, CA between the football teams of my two alma maters, the Oregon Ducks and UCLA Bruins. The ESPN College Gameday crew was on hand early this morning to set the stage, and the afternoon contest will be ABC’s coveted game of the week. This is big-time, big-money college football, on its biggest stage. I’m looking forward to watching the game. 

Earlier this week, the University of Oregon announced plans to construct a new 170,000 square-foot indoor practice facility as part of its burgeoning football complex adjacent to Autzen Stadium between Leo Harris Parkway and Martin King Jr. Boulevard in Eugene. As we’ve become accustomed to now, each such UO Athletics announcement of a new facility is awash in superlatives (“world-class,” “innovative,” “at a different level”) while detractors have likewise been vocal in their criticism. Without a doubt, the Ducks deservedly earn the envy and animus of their NCAA rivals. 

The University’s announcement detailed the proposed new practice facility’s features:

• An exterior shell constructed from locally sourced timber, its curved form inspired by the Oregon “O.”
• Tinted polymer roof panels, which allow natural light to reach the field without glare while insulating against heat.
• A ventilation system to mitigate poor air quality associated with smoke from wildfires.
• Energy-efficiency (powered by on-site renewable energy sources).
• A connector between the field and the Hatfield Dowlin Complex, the football team’s operations center.

The new building will complement, rather than replace, Oregon’s current indoor practice facility, the Moshofsky Center. 

The press release did not list the members of the design team or who will build the project (if any of you know, post a comment below). 

The University also did not disclose the project’s proposed cost; however, it will be funded “entirely with private philanthropy.” I’m not going out on a limb here by guessing the vast bulk of that philanthropy is thanks to the continued generosity of Nike co-founder Phil Knight and his wife Penny. 

The arms race in college sports, particularly when it comes to football, is out of control. Of this there is no doubt. The gap between the haves and have-nots continues to widen, with the wealthiest of the blue-blood programs blazing an unsustainable trajectory their less-storied or monied competitors cannot follow. That FBS coaches at public universities are invariably the highest-paid employees in their respective states is a case-in-point. The investment in insanely opulent, state-of-the-art facilities is another. Regardless of the largesse lavished by well-heeled boosters, not to mention each school’s share of the NCAA’s multi-billion-dollar television deals for college football and men’s basketball, many universities’ athletic programs sacrifice their non-revenue sports to stanch hemorrhaging budgets. 

I arrived as a transfer student at the University of Oregon in the fall of 1980. I always had known college sports were a much bigger deal in the U.S. than in Canada, but the degree to which they were still came as a surprise to me. I immediately embraced the pageantry, passion, and spectacle of college football, religiously joining thousands of my fellow students at Autzen Stadium on football Saturdays to cheer on our Ducks (regardless of their mostly woeful performance on the field at that time). I willingly engaged in the tribalism inherent in being a true fan. These memories contributed measurably to my appreciation of the very real cultural differences between Americans and Canadians. 

The majestic football stadium of a major public university in Canada: The University of British Columbia’s Thunderbird Stadium (seating capacity: 3,500). UBC’s enrollment is 66,000, almost three times that of the University of Oregon. Photo from the UBC website: Thunderbird Stadium (ubc.ca)  

As a fan, I want every advantage available to the team I root for. Oregon is raising the bar once again. Top recruits will undoubtedly be wowed by the flash and amenities the new indoor practice facility will bring. Additionally, a second venue for indoor practices will provide other Oregon sports with more opportunities to develop their craft when the conditions outdoor are uncooperative. That said, are two indoor practice facilities, each housing a full-sized football field and more, really necessary? 

Critics of the culture surrounding big-time college sports point to the news about another new Oregon bauble with predictable scorn. How, they ask, have we as a society allowed our priorities to become so misplaced? Couldn’t donors direct their money toward more pressing needs? My wife numbers among those who question the priorities of the wealthy boosters. Why do they contribute so substantially toward football facilities when there are so many causes worthy of equal support? Why not feed the hungry, house the homeless, fight climate change, or support social justice initiatives? And it’s not only that college football is a beneficiary. My wife is equally contemptuous of the billionaire space race. Can’t Jeff Bezos, Richard Branson, or Elon Musk apply their great wealth to do good here on Earth? 

If “Uncle Phil” is indeed the principal donor funding the new indoor practice facility, to his undeniable credit he and his wife Penny have contributed substantially to much more than Oregon Athletics. Indeed, the couple ranked 4^th nationally in philanthropic giving for 2020, donating $1.4 billion in charitable gifts, including $465 million to support academic programs at the University of Oregon, as well as a second $500 million gift to fund the second phase of the Knight Center for Accelerating Scientific Impact. The Knights additionally supported pandemic relief through the Oregon Community Foundation Recovery Fund and provided Oregon Health & Science University with a grant for COVID-19 testing, treatment, and containment. Of course, they previously funded construction of the Knight Law Center for the UO School of Law, and expansion of the Knight Library. 

The issue is complicated. It isn’t entirely a zero-sum game. I do not begrudge the very wealthy and those they choose to donate to if their intentions are directed beyond personal enrichment or aggrandizement. Is college football debased by money? Unfortunately, yes. I fail to see an easy solution and I’m not betting all will turn out well. As I said, the football arms race is unsustainable. At some point, the system will collapse under its own weight. When that happens, my naïve hope is the landscape of college football will somehow enjoy a rebirth in an incorruptible form on a level playing field (pardon the pun). 

I close this post having watched the Ducks outlast the Bruins 34-31 in a back-and-forth thriller. The contest was everything college football is supposed to be. My hope is the sport will continue to reward my passion as a fan. It would be a shame if I succumbed to cynicism because nothing changes and college football moves even further away from the sport I came to love as a student while at the University of Oregon.