Fall is finally around the corner, and or me, this beautiful season means the changing colors of the leaves, upcoming holidays, and not sweating the second I step outside. For many others, fall also means football. However, I could not care less. You won’t hear me talk about any high school, college, or NFL games. I just do not like football. I could give you several reasons as to why I’ve never enjoyed it, such as the high concussion rate in the athletes, for example. But my main issue with football is the idolization of student athletes and football players in general.
As a ballet major at a Division 1 university, I can tell you what it feels like to be unimportant. It doesn’t matter that our program is ranked as number three in the nation. All the ballet dancers and modern dancers will never be credited with the same amount of respect as the football players. We’re not even technically considered to be athletes by our school.
So many of the “true” athletes receive unparalleled amounts of special treatment, whether it’s scholarships, free clothes and gear, or leniency towards grades and schoolwork in general. It is not uncommon for high-profile student athletes to be given opportunities at universities they may not have been accepted to without the aid of their athletic prowess. Dance majors, on the other hand, do not receive such luxuries. We are also at the top of our respected fields, but must first be accepted to the University before even undergoing an audition process for the dance programs. Not to mention that we pay full tuition like every other student, as well.
Among the many perks available to the football team, one of the most infuriating is their facility. The Spence and Cleone Eccles Football Center was completed in July of 2013 with a dazzling array of features. Some things one might find in there include an athlete-only cafeteria, sports medicine and training rooms, several “classrooms” that look more like private movie theaters, and a team room with enough flat screen TVs for it to possibly get confused with Best Buy. It’s great they have such wonderful amenities accessible, but what about the other athletes? Many of the club teams don’t get this treatment.
The School of Dance is in the same boat when it comes to unparalleled facilities. We currently have more dancers than can fit in our studios, so we have to rent space in the Fine Arts West building for overflow. It’s not like we can build an entirely new space to accommodate our improving programs. We can barely afford to buy more foam rollers.
I understand many of the reasons behind the severe difference in funding (or lack thereof) since obviously dance will never receive the same amount of media coverage as football. However, I still have a major issue with the glamorized culture surrounding football. While both professional dancers and professional football players are both hard-working athletes, the two worlds could not be more different. In dance, especially ballet, we are taught that in order to become the best, we must never do anything wrong. We must always be perfect, we must never deviate from the norm, and we must never step out of line. No one will make excuses on our behalf. While all athletes feel that pressure, in football at least, there is more leniency for behavior. There are too many stories about athletes who get so accustomed to the privilege that comes with their status, and therefore do not think about the consequences of their actions. They can often afford to make those mistakes. The lowest salary in the NFL, the rookie minimum, is $435,000. Most regional ballet companies don’t pay dancers for their first two years. After that, ballet dancers usually earn around $20,000-45,000 annually.
Another contributor to the absurd idolization of the players, are the fans themselves. Especially at a university, like the U, where everyone and their mother gets swept away by the Ute pride. The importance our community and society places on game days is borderline ludicrous. People are advised to avoid driving in areas around campus, mass emails are sent to professors encouraging them to cancel class, essential parking lots are shut down, and for what? A silly little football game. You don’t see this kind of mass attention and overcompensation for every one of the dance performances. If the university did follow the same precautions for each performance, alumni and other fans of the U would immediately think of the plans as nonsensical and over the top.
Football is so deeply ingrained into our society, that anyone who challenges it is perceived as strange. However, I believe we are too accustomed to the industry, and its side effects of existing, to really see the ways it casts a discriminatory shadow over all other forms of athletics. Compared to the football team, any other athlete, whether in club sports or dance, is immediately rendered unimportant.