NCAA Revenues

[IBleedYellow]

Dom Izzo Tweeted this link out about an hour ago.

USA Today (http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/schools/finances/)

Would anyone be willing to teach a 22 year old about what they mean by subsidies? Does this mean student fees to help cover sports?


Note: I f'ing know what a subsidy is, but in college sports I'm only guessing.

[MplsBison]

It's just an accounting game. (which is all accounting is anyway)

If you say you're looking at the athletic department as a separate entity from the university in general, then there's a line in the AD budget where the university is essentially "paying" money to the AD.

You could, for accounting purposes, say that such a "payment" counts as revenue for the AD the same like selling tickets, parking, concessions, merchandise, etc. Then in turn you can look at that "revenue" versus the total revenue that the AD took in and come up with a percentage.

That information is supposed to be meaningful, apparently.


I say, if you want nice things then they cost money. If you want to be Division I university then you need a Division I athletic department and that doesn't come for free and in most cases does not pay for itself (although that's always the dream...).

If the students want it and they vote to pay for it -- then that's that.

[Lehigh Football Nation]

From the very first paragraph:


At a time of tight budgets throughout higher education, even the nation's few financially self-sufficient major-college athletics departments are continuing to receive subsidies in the form of student fees, school or state support, a USA TODAY Sports analysis finds.

Students "subsidize" athletics by paying, in I think almost all cases, a per-credit fee, so of a 20 credit courseload, a certain percentage of this goes directly to the athletics department. This avenue is available to both public and private schools, and it functions the same way a tax does on goods: it provides revenue from all to support a service.

In addition, the state "subsidizes" athletic departments as well by contributing to certain athletic expenses. I don't think it's the same as the student fee thing, though someone correct me if I'm wrong. I think it only involves student aid. I think there are rules against, say, Alabama state monies going towards Nick Saban's salary. In any case, this money is raised through taxes.

Take these "taxes" away and you have 23 athletic departments that are "making money" - yet, surprisingly, a good portion of these athletic departments still take funds from the state government.

[ursus arctos horribilis]

Dom Izzo Tweeted this link out about an hour ago.

USA Today (http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/schools/finances/)

Would anyone be willing to teach a 22 year old about what they mean by subsidies? Does this mean student fees to help cover sports?



Note: I f'ing know what a subsidy is, but in college sports I'm only guessing.

Yes it means student fees for the most part. I've put up link several times showing the amounts that programs are subsidized. AD are not usually money makers but the amount they take from the student population to survive can be substantial.

[walliver]

Just because an athletic department loses money does mean it loses money. If you read the article you will see that Texas' expenses and revenues are exactly the same - how likely is that.

These numbers can be easily manipulated. The AD can rent space from the university, contract with the school for security, etc.

In many states, public institutions are constitutionally prohibited from owning a for-profit business, so the accountants fix it so there is no paper profit.

It would be nice to see how revenues and expenses actually break down.

[MplsBison]

Indeed.

I'd love it if the U of TX accountants would "fix it up" for me personally with a new Audi R8 in my driveway. That'd be just fine.

[ursus arctos horribilis]

Just because an athletic department loses money does mean it loses money. If you read the article you will see that Texas' expenses and revenues are exactly the same - how likely is that.

These numbers can be easily manipulated. The AD can rent space from the university, contract with the school for security, etc.

In many states, public institutions are constitutionally prohibited from owning a for-profit business, so the accountants fix it so there is no paper profit.

It would be nice to see how revenues and expenses actually break down.

Dead on. UofM does a whole lot of siding revenue generated by football around to other departments in the university and I'm sure it happens everywhere.