Boy, when they say it's a competitive recruiting environment in college athletics, they aren't kidding:

The head football coach at the University of Colorado has told a former colleague it would be harder to recruit star athletes if the school did not show them a good time and take them to sex parties.

The battles between the athletic department and the rest of the school at the University of Arkansas are legendary. I doubt if it's any different at other land grant colleges or other universities with heavy athletic traditions. The traditional sop is prominent athletic programs bring big donors to a university. However, it's been my experience those big donors just build larger athletic facilities. As far as I know, not a single independent study has ever confirmed the assertion.