Disclaimer: If you do not care how your money is spent, stop reading now.
Low attendance at sporting events is one more example of student apathy and disregard for how student dollars are spent. If students don’t care, they probably never will.
We can tell students to go to games again and again, but unless they like sports or care about supporting athletics, they are unlikely to make an appearance. But the fact is, we help pay for the sporting events.
People tend to get angry when they see the breakdown of the dedicated student fee and realize we send a lot of money per student to the athletics department each year. Agree or disagree with how much student money the athletic department deserves, but the important number to consider is the amount the University of Idaho spends to host the events.
It costs more than $600,000 per year to host games, matches and meets — not including other expenses like staff salaries, basic maintenance and facility maintenance. The athletics department budget is $18 million and only $2.32 million comes from the dedicated student fee. Every year we complain about giving about $250 per student to the athletics department, but in reality it is a minimal portion of the department’s budget.
That does not mean we should not care how our student dollars are spent — if you disagree, then let your voice be heard. The zero percent increase to the dedicated student fee shows ASUI will listen. It also does not mean $250 isn’t a lot of money. In fact, it is just the opposite.
It is no secret that college students barely get by when it comes to their bank accounts, which makes it even more discouraging to see so few fans in the stands during sporting events. The student fees we complain about and fight to keep low are wasted every time the football or basketball team plays for a non-existent crowd.
We can only point fingers at so many people and list shallow reasons for not being proud enough to sport our silver and gold before we have to look in the mirror and discover why the stands are empty. And at this point in the year, there are limited opportunities to put our student fees to good use and support our peers, but this year — for the first time ever — the Western Athletic Conference Championship for track and field will be hosted on Vandal turf.
The events are already paid for — it’s up to us to take advantage of what we bought.
— ER