[81alum]

What about San Jose State? I’ve argued for years SJS should drop football because it has no chance to win at a high level. Then I read SJS supporters say having the team creates a certain esteem regardless of the fact they may never win.

I've been saying that for 30 years and I work there.  The student body has little interest in it and attendance seldom breaks 15k--for a University with an alumni base in the area that is 15 times the size of Stanford's.  It saps $12 million of taxpayer dollars and $8 million of student fees per year, it generates $2-3 million of donations, and it has had one winning season in the last couple of decades.  But Presidents and Advancement people feel their own prestige and ability to raise money would be diminished if they worked at a university that was not in Division I football, and so they keep it for their own purposes.

[81alum]

What about San Jose State? I’ve argued for years SJS should drop football because it has no chance to win at a high level. Then I read SJS supporters say having the team creates a certain esteem regardless of the fact they may never win.

I've been saying that for 30 years and I work there.  The student body has little interest in it and attendance seldom breaks 15k--for a University with an alumni base in the area that is 15 times the size of Stanford's.  It saps $12 million of taxpayer dollars and $8 million of student fees per year, it generates $2-3 million of donations, and it has had one winning season in the last couple of decades.  But Presidents and Advancement people feel their own prestige and ability to raise money would be diminished if they worked at a university that was not in Division I football, and so they keep it for their own purposes.