UK vs US: Will our University Sports ever Catch up?

It’s hard to admit, but some things are undeniable: the US has got college sports down to a tee. 100,000 people, students, and locals alike, staggering half-cut into a stadium, is a far cry from what we have in the UK. It certainly wouldn’t be simple, but could we match what they’ve got across the pond? After all, no one quite mixes drinking and sports like the British.

There are several factors to consider before we get our hopes up. Firstly, the level of competition among US colleges is incomparable to that between UK unis. Division I athletes in America are touted to become the finest players in their respective sports, while here it’s generally accepted that the best of the best don’t take the higher education route at all. This is largely due to the contrasting league systems of the two countries. The UK has long been praised for its grassroots approach to sports, incorporating a top-to-bottom league system in sports like football, which means that any team can reach the top level. What that means for aspiring players is that, if you’re good enough, there will be somewhere for you to find your footing and make a name for yourself. If you’re trying to go pro in football, and you’re reading this as a student, I’m sorry to tell you that your chances aren’t looking good. Sports like American football and basketball in the States do things differently, using a closed franchise system. As opposed to having multiple leagues where talent can lie, teams typically look at the draft for the future and rarely look elsewhere. Of the thousands of American players to grace the floor in the NBA, just 41 have gone prep-to-pro (skipping college). Clearly then, if you want to go to the NFL or NBA, your best chance is through college. Having the brightest prospects filter through college will naturally attract bigger crowds, as opposed to the five-person mass expected at the average Sunday League game here. If the UK scene is to have the same following as in the US, this level of competition needs to improve.

Another aspect that is completely different overseas is the media attention. College sports in the States are broadcast internationally through ESPN and Paramount+, attracting huge audiences worldwide. For example, the NCAA (National College Athletics Association) 2021 Men’s Basketball Tournament garnered an audience of 10.1 million. The only UK university sporting event to come that close is the Oxbridge Boat Race, which had an audience of 4.1 million in the same year. Being shown on TV every year, this race is in itself an enormous outlier, with most uni sports relying on independent university broadcasts to pull in numbers. This problem could only be remedied by corporations like the BBC bringing competitions like BUCS into the mainstream, which currently seems unlikely. The US model also helps turn college athletes into celebrities whose consequent popularity turns more eyes on their sports. Even uneducated sports fans will know the names of Zion Williamson and Lamar Jackson who rose to fame with their performances at college level, but there has not been a single star to come out of British universities in the last five years. The cycle of producing talent and making them famous is what has served college teams so well, and the UK would do well to follow suit should they ever want to rival the US.

Finally, there is the simple issue of funding holding the Brits back. It’s not immediately apparent where UK universities — many of which are already strapped for cash — would find the additional resources to revolutionise their sports programmes and hand out hundreds of new scholarships. Even if they were to, it would be a major gamble with limited potential upsides. Despite the popularity of college teams in America, many colleges make no profit at all from their sporting endeavours due to the cost of full-ride offers and upkeep of facilities. Thus the reluctance from UK universities to invest so heavily in their sports programmes is understandable. What keeps most colleges in the green is the attendance numbers, with the average college American football game in the SEC assembling roughly 77,000 fans. When you consider that the average premier league game has 44,000 spectators, it is unfathomable for university sport to ever reach the same level in the UK as it has in the US. The sheer scale of America and its population makes its college system viable. For reference, there are two stadiums in England capable of hosting a game of such magnitude, namely Wembley (90,000 seats) and Twickenham (82,000). Perhaps we should look at upsizing our elite sports leagues before beginning transformations on a university level.

In reality, weekend tailgates and sold-out sporting venues are but a pipeline dream in the UK, and it’s not really something worth getting our hopes up for. The UK just doesn’t have the space or the population for sporting events to rival those in the US. Unless something drastic changes, we’ll just have to enjoy what we’ve got for the time being.

Image by Calum Mayor