Lavish spending on college athletics is straining the financial resources of universities and should be controlled through fewer athletic scholarships, limits on non-coaching personnel and other changes, an independent commission recommended Thursday.

The Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics, in its third report since being formed in 1989, found wide imbalances between athletic and educational spending that is likely to grow as athletic conferences pursue further riches. Realignment efforts, like those involving the Big 12 this month, are just one symptom of the problem.

“Quite honestly, I think it raises some good points,” said Rice athletic director Rick Greenspan. “The one I like in particular is restoring the balance — it tries to provide financial incentive or motivation for behavior in college athletics. It tries to reward the core principles, and that’s student-athlete graduations. … I’d sign up for that tomorrow.”

English or football?

If the business model of intercollegiate athletics is not revised, spending demands from sports could impinge on spending demands for academics, the commission concluded.

“Indeed, reliance on institutional resources to underwrite athletic programs is reaching the point at which some institutions must choose between funding sections of freshman English and funding the football team,” the report said.

That could cause a loss of credibility for both college sports and higher education, commission members said.

“University presidents believe the current model is unsustainable,” said William E. Kirwan, the University System of Maryland chancellor and co-chairman of the 22-member commission.

The commission found that spending on major college sports grew by 38 percent between 2005 and 2008, nearly twice as much as spending on academics.

In researching spending by athletic conferences, the report concluded thatmajor institutions spend several times more — the Southeastern Conference almost 11 times more and the Big 12 nine times more — on each athlete than they spend on educational activities per student.

Athletic costs have grown so rapidly that few universities can cover those costs with sports-generated funds, forcing university leaders to shift general fund resources to cover athletic shortfalls.

“It is a commission, and it doesn’t have the authority,” Greenspan said. “I think it’s going to take federal legislation or a strong challenge to what is viewed as the monopolistic BCS.”

Emphasizing academics

The commission is urging the NCAA and universities to consider reforms such as detailing growth rates in athletic and academic spending within annual financial reports and revenue-sharing formulas that put stronger emphasis on academic success.

It sought stronger enforcement of a recommendation it made nine years ago that would require schools to graduate at least 50 percent of their players to be eligible for postseason competition.

Texas A&M president R. Bowen Loftin said a task force he appointed to evaluate A&M’s athletic program — which received a $16 million loan from the university more than four years ago — is looking at many of the issues the commission raised. He believes the recommendations can serve as a blueprint for task-force deliberations.

“We cannot ever lose sight that ‘student’ comes first in ‘student-athlete,’ ” he said.

Chronicle reporter Jeffrey Martin contributed to this report.