However, there are only so many Ohio State University, University of Florida, Texas A&M, etc. out there. Other schools derive little to no benefit from the sports program on the academic side. In fact, it can be quite the opposite and siphon tons of money away from the academic side so some coach can make ridiculous money to never win a game, so student fees can be increased to make an indoor practice facility for a team that won't ever win. Give give give by the academic side of the University, take take take by the athletics side. And in the end, there is no real benefit gained from doing so. However, we have somehow ingrained it into our psyche that we must have a football team, we must have a basketball team, we must support this and that; even at Universities which cannot really support it. So to the generalized question as to whether or not admitting students based on sports is beneficial, it's not. Because the only place the University in terms of academia can hope to benefit from the sports programs is in schools with very large programs. And those happen to be the programs which will also have the most cheating.