“Where is the morality?” Is a wild perspective to have about college sports. Do people really think of sports as some type of moral? What is the morality of “traditional rivalries, geographic rivalries or shorter travel for student athletes”? Strange to frame this from a moral perspective. If anything institutions f higher learning should do away with these semi-pro offerings because of morality like U of Chicago did. Universities are supposed to be about learning, discovery of truth, and intellectual rigor. How do competitive sports fit into that morally?
You think sports don't encourage learning, discovery of truth, and/or intellectual rigor? What level of competition did you actually reach?
Yes. Elite to world class.
Question isn’t about whether sports encourage learning, truth, rigor: it is whether athletic conferences and the structure of intercollegiate competition have different frameworks that can be more or less moral.
Taking drugs (both medicinal - Adderall or recreational - LSD) can also encourage learning, truth, and rigor but higher ed institutions have decided drug use is not a multimillion dollar endeavor for the institution.