That isn't just college athletics, that's education in general. Take a look at just about any highschool built in the last 20 years and you'll realize it's closer to class A real estate then it ever needed to be. Most kids going to school there will probably never work in a nicer environment then what they went to school in.

Or look at any new government building. They all seem at least partly over the top. Not sure when we as a society decided this was such a great need worth spending on.