"There is a certain business aspect in what we do in athletics -- and there's no denying that you've got to pay attention to those aspects. But it gets caught up in this perception that it's 'all about business' and not about the educational value that athletics brings to the table. Trying to separate the two is difficult sometimes. We shouldn't be ashamed. And I'm sure the business aspects have become bigger over the last 10 years, but so has higher education in general. You've got to pay the bills and employ people. I don't think we ought to apologize for having a financial aspect to our enterprise, as long as we don't let it overshadow the primary educational mission."

-- Tim Curley, athletics director, Pennsylvania State University

"It's hard to look at the NCAA not as a business. The CBS TV contract and the tens of millions of dollars for bowls -- even though those of us who cover college football know that while the games are approved by the NCAA, they're not the NCAA's function -- are a testament to that. When you have that kind of money floating around, it's hard not to look at college sports as a business."

-- Mike Marot, Associated Press

"The notion of college sports as nothing but big business is unduly influenced by Division I-A. And even within I-A, that perception is driven mostly by basketball and football -- which is not where most of the spending growth has been in recent years. It seems to me that the debate over college athletics shouldn't be conducted mostly on financial terms -- as the notion that 'college sports are nothing but big business' implies. Instead, it should be conducted in terms of whether sports make sense as part of the educational mission of universities. The budget share of athletics (relative to the university's overall spending) remains quite modest, underscoring the point that the debate should really be conducted on terms other than the narrow financial one."

-- Peter Orszag, economist, Brookings Institute

"Our institution receives 15 percent of its budget from the state. That's for the entire institution, for an enrollment of 60,000 students. Ohio State is running a business, and the athletics department is only a microcosm of the umbrella organization. What's wrong with that? People usually try to spin that in a negative way. It is not a negative that we're running a business. The issue is whether you're running that business with integrity, or whether you're abusing the entrepreneur opportunities and not focusing on the core educational mission."

-- Gene Smith, athletics director, Ohio State University

"Football and men's basketball are the only sports for which I would be cynical enough to say college sports is a business. Everything else -- I mean, colleges let their golf and tennis teams fly across the country, knowing full well that they're losing money on every plane ticket they buy. So in that sense, student-athletes come first in those sports. Given that, I understand why the two revenue sports have to be run as a business."

-- Gregg Doyel, college sports reporter,

CBS SportsLine.com

"Yes, we undertake marketing campaigns, seek corporate sponsors and radio and television revenues where we can. When the Notre Dame football team comes to town or, next year, USC, we do everything we can to fill the stadium. But in the end, with all we do, we just break even. Collegiate sports at Stanford is a nonprofit enterprise."

-- Debbie Gore-Mann, senior associate athletics director, Stanford University

(Excepted from a 2004 issue of Stanford Business Magazine)

"We're always balancing, and some may argue fairly that we tilt toward the dollar, but if we didn't acknowledge the need for the resources, they would be very attractive to somebody who did. Right now, there are a lot of unfunded mandates (women's opportunities, rise in scholarship costs, bringing old facilities up to code, summer school, insurance). Those are things that have been passed at the NCAA level and they usually aren't fulfilled from the general fund."

-- Jim Delany, commissioner, Big Ten Conference

"To allow that widespread athletics participation is something that is a means to an end. If all the money generated by football and basketball were spent on those two sports alone, then you would have a weakened argument against saying college sports is not simply business. But because they support a variety of participation and coaching opportunities and support services for other sports that could not afford them on the strength of their own revenue potential, the argument is sound."

-- Bob Lawless, president emeritus, University of Tulsa

"I find it interesting that anyone would even question the statement that college athletics is big business. I don't think anyone is directing that at the nonrevenue sports. Football and basketball have to be big business. And I don't even know that it's fair to criticize the NCAA for business behavior. It's a marketplace issue. The NCAA doesn't control the marketplace. If the NCAA wants to try, we've found out how that works in court."

-- Steve Wieberg, college sports reporter, USA Today