SEAHO Report - Spring 2020 - 12

FEATURE ARTICLES

It's Game-Time!

Effectively Engaging Student Athlete Populations
in Residential Programming Initiatives
John Mitchell Benton, University of North Carolina Greensboro
Let's face it: many people across
the world consider sports to
be one of the greatest forms
of entertainment there is, an
escape from everyday work and
responsibilities. North American
sports have a wide reach across
the world and create a unique way
of unifying and rallying people
together, regardless of identity.
These competitive events create
opportunities for fans to invest
in, cheer on, and become part of
a community much larger than
themselves. Sports across the world
coincide with community values, as
they attempts to define the morals
and ethics attributed not only to
athletes, but also to society as a
whole. Fans of spectator sports
find reaffirmation of societal
values through sports, as they
give meaning to their own lives
(Macri, 2012). As American society
continues to feel the unprecedented
impacts of COVID-19, more and
more athletic seasons are being
postponed or canceled. These
cancellations leave fan bases
without events to look forward
to, without a common means of
stress release, and without a way to
congregate with friends. COVID-19
has also had a significant financial
impact for the largest sports
organizations, such as the National
Basketball Association (NBA). It
is estimated that if the rest of the
regular season and playoffs are
cancelled, the NBA could potentially
lose over 1 billion dollars in

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revenue/sponsorships (Golliver,
2020).
Personally, sporting events are
about the only shows that I ever
watch on TV, so not having the
opportunity to watch LeBron James
barrel down the lane for an And-1,
Steph Curry (although he's been
hurt) raining threes from way
downtown, see what Tom Brady is
going to look like in a Tampa Bay
Buccaneers jersey, and not even
filling out NCAA March Madness
brackets, has been really rough. I
have resorted to listening to the
daily Undisputed sports podcast
with Skip Bayless and Shannon
Sharpe in order to fill the void.
This experience is one that many
people can resonate with as sports
have become engrained into
American society, for better or
worse. Although it may not be ideal
that athletes make millions upon
millions of dollars, we cannot deny
that athletics is still one of the
greatest forms of entertainment in
American society, not to mention
that it is also an extremely large
contributor to the field of higher
education and athletic departments
as well; either through ticket
sales, advertising endorsements,
increasing enrollment, or alumni
donations. However, it is also
important to recognize that while
these may bring monetary benefits
and support to an institution, the
darker side that athletics bring to
higher education cannot be ignored.

Is it right that athletes are not
compensated for their likeness? No.
Is it right that collegiate athletic
programs often prioritize their
athletic success over their students'
academic success? No. Is it right
that this financial dynamic creates
troubling political and moral
landscapes for institutions? No.
Unfortunately, these are very real
problems within a broken system,
and problems that we should
be aware of as student affairs
practitioners so that we can start
to break down the systemic issues
in the relationship between higher
education and athletics, and to start
building up more equitable support
for our students. Even with such
issues that have negative impacts
on student athletes, for many,
the opportunity to compete at the
collegiate level can create memories
that will last a lifetime and make
dreams come true.
Growing up in a die-hard sports
family, I quickly was thrown into
participating and competing in
various sports: football (awful),
baseball (couldn't swing),
basketball (decent), and tennis
(much better). I continued playing
tennis throughout my college
career, and the competitive nature
that developed from many years
of athletic competition became
part of my identity, and still is
today. This is extremely important
to consider when engaging with
student athlete populations as
Game-Time cont.
SEAHO Report - Spring 2020

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