See http://www.zebra.net/~tfm/funding.html for a general overview of
funding approaches. It's four years old, but still valid. (And for
anyone else reading this, suggestions for updates for the next
version are welcomed.)
Classifying academic competition as a sport to get better funding is
a very interesting strategy! All I can think to suggest is to look
for other organizations at Stetson (perhaps forensics, model U.N.,
chess, etc.) that have succesfully tried this approach. Chess, by
the way, has been an Olympic sport, and will be again in 2004, and
so may provide a good general model.
Good luck! And let us know if you succeed.
Tom