Oh I agree! I have reached the point where why are we funneling so much into college athletics.
I will go by a story I was given:
The Basketball Story
How is it we need a head coach, three assistant coaches, a director of operations, a video coordinator, two graduate assistants and a traveling secretary for 15 players yet the chemistry department has one prof and at most 5 GA's who oversee 200 kids? Are you really telling me that basketball requires that many people to teach people how to put a ball in the hoop?
Now think about your football staff and wonder how hard is it to teach someone to score a touchdown in football......
That is a good story.
I will say, having taken those 200-student Chem151 classes (this was under quarters and a disturbingly large number of years ago, so the designation may have changed) in Clippinger hall, the professor:student ratio didn't strike me as an issue FOR THAT SUBJECT. Indeed, 1 professor for 400-800 students (with an appropriately increased number of TAs) would probably teach the freshman Chem. material as effectively as 1 professor for 200 students, or even 40 students.
This is NOT to say that this would apply to all subjects, or even all chemistry classes, just a thought that struck me over coffee