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use2hands
10-22-2009, 11:11 AM
Here are excerpts from an article

Please note the last sentence - so if UCLAs and Arizonas of the world can't make $ at college softball, nobody can. Also, I wonder who the only college woman's basketball team made $ - Connecticut and Tenn always sell out, and their are other programs that seem to have big crowds like Duke - but only one made $!

Associated Press
NCAA: Just 21 percent of athletic depts profitable
By MICHAEL MAROT , 10.21.09, 09:23 AM EDT

INDIANAPOLIS -- Most of the nation's college athletic departments are still trying to get out of the red zone.

The NCAA's latest report on revenues and expenses, released Tuesday, showed that fewer than 25 percent of all Football Bowl Subdivision schools made money in 2007-08, while the remaining 302 schools competing in Division I struggled to break even.

The recession, which began in December 2007, has had an impact on budgets, too.

With declining ticket sales and decreasing donations from alumni and boosters, allocations from states and schools now account for 30 percent of athletic department budgets, up from 20 percent in 2006. Expenditures for athletics from the overall school budgets, however, have remained relatively constant at about 5 percent over five years, according to the study.

Fulks believes schools will seek new ways to cut costs. "The next place you see beyond scholarships and salaries is in travel, such as busing rather than flying," he said. "But travel is only about 8 percent of the athletics budget, typically, and cuts there won't save significant amounts on a larger scale."
It isn't high-budget sports that are losing the most money, either.
Of the 119 FBS football teams, 68 (57.1 percent) finished the year in the black. Of the 119 FBS schools playing men's basketball, 67 made a profit. But only one of those same 119 schools made money in women's basketball in 2008. No other sports program at the FBS schools, when measured by median values, showed a sports program in the black.

Spearchucker Jones
10-25-2009, 05:53 PM
Article does make you think...

Hope the meaning of college sports for everyone doesn't get reduced to whether a sport or athletic dept is stand alone profitable or not. These large and respected FBS colleges referenced don't overall operate in the red. I'm sure they have their share of other expenses as well as income. These colleges are also a very recession proof entity. Has anyone else noticed the amount of new construction going on even at smaller colleges in this recession? When times are good people and businesses spend money on education to get ahead. When times are bad people spend money on education increase their opportunities for better paying jobs.

It'll be a sad day if college sports go in the same direction as the Olympics in eliminating the opportunities and the spirit of amateur athletics for the all mighty dollar and profitability.

Also, you'd think the money TV pays for NCAA basketball (games and March Madness) and football (games and bowls) as well as other uses of athletic facilities, endorsements, food service, merchandising, as well as gifts would somehow get back to FBS schools. Maybe it doesn't go directly to the athletic department budget but athletics isn't a total write off. Like to think a 10 percent fluctuation in the athletic department wouldn't significantly affect a FBS schools bottom line.