Someone please explain to me how the University can afford these salaries (and retirement plans, and severance packages) but then they have to lay off teachers and raise tuition. I really don't understand it. Is the athletics department really that profitable and worth it? It's a university, it's supposed to produce degrees not NFL stars. So few of college athletes have any hopes of becoming professionals, let alone they don't pay to play.

I'm all ears, I really don't know how this works.