Personally, I prefer music, but that’s just my thing.
I’ve worked in many schools that did have to make the choice between the two, and I always thought it interesting how they made the choices.
Public schools in the US almost ALWAYS gut music before sports. I think there are a number of factors here. In the school I taught in that was a prime example, it was a rural and poor area with a very low property tax rate. Most of the parents couldn’t afford the instrument fees and other things. They actually kept the music department—sort of. It became an after school club. But not many people were in it. The sports program brought in a lot of alumni and fairly good revenue, so they kept it.
In the private or charter schools where I worked, they mostly kept music. The parents tended to be more well off and wanted their kids to learn music. Also, to be honest, starting up most major sports programs can be really expensive—so it’s cheaper not to have them. One boarding school where I worked had a T-shirt that said “xx High School Varsity Football Undefeated 30 years and running” The joke was that they never HAD a football team. However, these schools actually did have a small sports thing going on. Mostly volley ball and basketball. Once again because those are relatively cheap sports—football and soccer tend to be more expensive to maintain the grounds. None of the private schools ever had baseball teams either.