Jodi UptonUSA TODAYjupton@usatoday.com

Indiana University

March 10, 2010

Is covering athletic department spending worth the trouble?Aren’t most athletic departments self-supporting?

Don’t football programs pay for all the other sports?

Three Sources:

Federal government

Department budget

NCAA report

Federal report

Equity in Athletic Disclosure Act data

http://ope.ed.gov/athletics/

Revenue and expenses off in one-third of schools, some as much as $30 million

Few details No incentive for accuracy!

Emergency use only!

Athletic Budget

Local Confusing Does not include expenses picked up by

the university or alumni foundation which can include millions in capital spending.

Can’t be compared to other schools

National Collegiate Athletic Association Due to the NCAA every

January 15 for the previous fiscal year (usually July-June).

Same format and rules for all schools

Uses national accounting guidelines

NCAA will not release the report. It has to be gathered using open records laws from each school.

Caveats

Does not always include capital expenses (stadium costs, for example).

Schools can fudge categories Alabama eliminated a student fee that generated

$3.8 million for athletics in 2006-07. They added it to tuition. Athletics got $4.1 million

extra from the university in 2007-08. Oops! Alabama double-counted $24 million in

revenue in 2007-08. Reported to the NCAA?

Two kinds of revenue:

Allocated: student fees, direct and indirect university support, state support

Any money taken from a tax-paying group (university, students) to run the department

Generated: money made from athletic activities

Ticket sales, guarantees, contributions*, conference money, broadcast, licensing…

USA TODAY’s version

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/ncaa-finances.htm

Currently: all 99 public schools in the 120-school FBS (top football schools. More coming.

Not available: private schools, PA schools, Navy

What it can do for you

Alabama 2007-08

If schools are more dependent on subsidies, are they cutting spending?

How dependent is your athletic department:

Other stories

(Lies My College Told Me)

“A major in eligibility, with a minor in beating the system.”

--C. Keith Harrison, associate director of the University of Central Florida’s Institute of Diversity and Ethics in Sports

Majoring in eligibility

Clustering of college athletesusatoday.com/sports/college/2008-11-18-majors-graphic_N.htm

How common is clustering?

83% of the schools (118 of 142) had at least one team in which at least 25% of the juniors and seniors majored in the same thing.

More than half of the clusters are "extreme": at least 40% of athletes on a team are in the same major.

Unusual degrees

Florida Atlantic42 upperclassmen enrolled in “Week-End

Management” (cq) South Florida

279 students enrolled in “Bulls Network.” General studies/university studies

Nearly one in five clusters are ambiguous or vague programs

Favorite sports myth # 12

We don’t need to save for college – my kid’s getting a scholarship…

Arizona State 2007