Most big universities have gone crazy over athletics, spending loads of money on facilities and coaches in hopes of garnering some fleeting fame by winning championship. The sports tail often wags the academic dog.

In today’s Martin Center article, Reagan Allen writes about the proposed new 25,000-seat stadium at the University of North Carolina. UNC already has a big stadium, of course — this is a new one. Among other things, it would host cricket matches. No, this isn’t the Babylon Bee. Cricket.

Allen writes:

Since the Dean Smith Center needs major repairs, why is UNC considering a 25,000-seat cricket stadium? That was the surprise tucked into the Board of Trustees’ July 30 External Relations Committee packet. Trustee Vimal Kolappa and Minor League Cricket part-owner Vijay Nandakumar pitched what they call the “NC Colosseum,” a massive multi-sport venue to be built at the mixed-use Carolina North campus featuring cricket, football, soccer, rugby, and concerts and designed to turn UNC into a “global sports capital” before the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. The glossy presentation promised billions in economic impact and hundreds of millions in annual returns. What it did not explain is how this spectacle advances UNC’s academic mission — or why fixing the Dome is not the first priority.

As always with such “investments,” the backers say it will produce great benefits for the university and the community. It almost certainly will instead have greater costs than benefits.

I say forget about becoming a global sports capital and try to be a better university.