On the university campus in the town I’m fortunate enough to call home, new sports facilities are shooting up faster than dandelions in Subprime City, obscuring large chunks of our rather attractive mountain vistas. This growth doesn’t seem to be matched by any increase in the construction of, say, new chemistry labs or concert halls.

So it was with great interest that I read a paper from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) this week that asks: Are college athletic programs, in fact, businesses? And should they be taxed as such?

It’s no secret, of course, that sports programs are big moneymakers for colleges. The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) men’s basketball tournament alone raked in $143 million last year, according to the report.

Like other nonprofits, colleges and universities are generally exempt from federal income tax because they provide a public service and benefit. The government doesn’t look kindly on earnings from activities that are not clearly related to that purpose, especially when those activities muscle in on a market space that might otherwise be occupied by for-profit enterprises. So the question becomes: Are college athletics programs primarily commercial rather than educational? In other words, are they selling into a market that also includes, or could include, businesses that are subject to taxation?

Strangely, the study doesn’t address the question directly (disappointing, that — I’d have been interested to know what kind of minor-league NFL operation might in theory replace our local college football team). Instead, the CBO looks at how athletics programs in NCAA Division 1 stack up against other departments in those schools in terms of revenue.

Turns out that the athletics departments “derive a considerably larger share of their revenue from commercial activities than do other parts of the universities,” the report notes — 60 to 80 percent of their income, in fact. Which suggests that these programs “may have crossed the line from educational to commercial endeavors,” the CBO opines.

I’m not sure why it takes a congressional study to know that the finances of your typical college hoops game are in a completely different ballpark (sorry) from, let’s say, the horticulture department selling a few pots of petunias. The results of the athletics arms race are writ large on formerly open spaces in my town, not to mention the jaw-dropping salaries of college sports coaches and the preferential recruitment of student athletes.

Are they businesses? Sure. Tax ’em. ###