"College Football is a Money Pit..."

[zipp]

College Football Is a Money Pit, and One School Has Had Enough

Interesting story, but you have to read to the end of it to get the true state of the business. (The sport is actually expanding...)

Besides Jacksonville, the team most affected may be the slappies. They'll need a schedule replacement...

 

[gocds]

You cannot read the article unless you are willing to subscribe. I ain’t willin’. Perhaps you could provide a synopsis of the article without “violating” your subscription.

GO CARDS - BEAT EVERYBODY!!! God Bless America!!!

 

[Guardman]

Thx for posting , Zipp.

Pretty fair and balanced little article.

 

[gocds]

Thx for posting , Zipp.

Pretty fair and balanced little article.

Can you disclose the gist of the article please. Thanks in advance. Apparently Jacksonville is disbanding their football program. I remember UAB doing that a few years ago only to restart their program a couple of years later.

GO CARDS - BEAT EVERYBODY!!! God Bless America!!!

 

[Morgantown Card]

FARRR that sonofabeyitch.

 

[Guardman]

Can you disclose the gist of the article please. Thanks in advance. Apparently Jacksonville is disbanding their football program. I remember UAB doing that a few years ago only to restart their program a couple of years later.

GO CARDS - BEAT EVERYBODY!!! God Bless America!!!

Some key snippets:

"There’s no public database of FCS financial information, but in 2017, the NCAA reported that 98% of FCS football programs -- all but three -- lost money, with the median deficit at $2.4 million. In the past decade, average attendance at FCS games has fallen 11%.

As schools lose millions on football, they balance their athletic budgets with money from the academic side of the institution, or directly from the students via tuition fees.

Tough Economics
“At the low level of FCS-scholarship football, I don’t know how some of these programs are surviving,” Wright said. “There is absolutely no revenue, and the impact on the budget is substantial.”

And yet, the number of programs is increasing, not decreasing. In the past decade, the number of Division I football teams has grown by 16, to 254. In FCS, it’s jumped to 125 from 118, despite a dozen teams making the move up to college football’s top tier.


Decisions to scale back football programs have been met with anger. When the University of Idaho announced in 2016 that its team would drop to FCS, the president’s car was vandalized. In 2014, the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s plan to eliminate football was met with so much anger -- and fundraising -- that the team returned to the field in 2017.

Some of the money saved will go back to the institution, while some will be used to benefit the school’s other 17 teams. The university has about 3,000 undergraduates, with more than 500 student athletes.

In the past year, Jacksonville opened a new $1.8 million lacrosse center, announced plans to upgrade its baseball stadium and started building a new $8 million basketball practice facility.

 

[gocds]

Some key snippets:

"There’s no public database of FCS financial information, but in 2017, the NCAA reported that 98% of FCS football programs -- all but three -- lost money, with the median deficit at $2.4 million. In the past decade, average attendance at FCS games has fallen 11%.

As schools lose millions on football, they balance their athletic budgets with money from the academic side of the institution, or directly from the students via tuition fees.

Tough Economics
“At the low level of FCS-scholarship football, I don’t know how some of these programs are surviving,” Wright said. “There is absolutely no revenue, and the impact on the budget is substantial.”

And yet, the number of programs is increasing, not decreasing. In the past decade, the number of Division I football teams has grown by 16, to 254. In FCS, it’s jumped to 125 from 118, despite a dozen teams making the move up to college football’s top tier.


Decisions to scale back football programs have been met with anger. When the University of Idaho announced in 2016 that its team would drop to FCS, the president’s car was vandalized. In 2014, the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s plan to eliminate football was met with so much anger -- and fundraising -- that the team returned to the field in 2017.

Some of the money saved will go back to the institution, while some will be used to benefit the school’s other 17 teams. The university has about 3,000 undergraduates, with more than 500 student athletes.

In the past year, Jacksonville opened a new $1.8 million lacrosse center, announced plans to upgrade its baseball stadium and started building a new $8 million basketball practice facility.

Thanks Guardman. Isn’t Jacksonville in the OVC? Or what conference do they participate in and at what level? I’m totally in favor of UofL backing off of charging our students a “fee”. Yeah, I know they “voted” it on themselves, but it’s been more than long enough.

GO CARDS - BEAT EVERYBODY!!! God Bless America!!!

 

[rentalman]

Thanks Guardman. Isn’t Jacksonville in the OVC? Or what conference do they participate in and at what level? I’m totally in favor of UofL backing off of charging our students a “fee”. Yeah, I know they “voted” it on themselves, but it’s been more than long enough.

GO CARDS - BEAT EVERYBODY!!! God Bless America!!!

You are probably thinking of Jacksonville State which is in Alabama. The article was about Jacksonville University (where Artis Gilmore played College Ball) in Jacksonville, FL

 

[Mike'sMarbles]

I'm guessing they haven't followed the money trail far enough. Maybe the schools are making it up through donors/boosters? It's hard to believe they'd continue taking on losses that large that they can't offset somehow.

 

[nccardfan]

Kids who want to go to college want their school to have a football team and the schools want the parents to pay for it.

 

[rentalman]

I'm guessing they haven't followed the money trail far enough. Maybe the schools are making it up through donors/boosters? It's hard to believe they'd continue taking on losses that large that they can't offset somehow.

I think a lot of schools do lose money but some of it is how things are accounted for. Dr Larry Benz who I believe was on the Board of Trustees at one time was explaining that on Howie's show a couple of years ago. He used out of State Tuition as an example. He explained the vast majority of UL's Scholarship Athlete's are from out of State. And the University charges UL Athletics the full Out of State Tuition Price for each athlete. He went on to say that very few non-athlete out of State students pay anywhere close to the Full Rate. They negotiate a lower Rate. So the school is making a nice bonus off the athletes. And he indicated tuition was one of the largest expenses in athletics. He gave several other examples. His point was that even though on paper the way things are accounted for it appears UL Athletics was losing money, but when you factor in these types of things they really were not losing money.

I am sure Zipp will come along and correct my post.

 

[zipp]

I think a lot of schools do lose money but some of it is how things are accounted for. Dr Larry Benz who I believe was on the Board of Trustees at one time was explaining that on Howie's show a couple of years ago. He used out of State Tuition as an example. He explained the vast majority of UL's Scholarship Athlete's are from out of State. And the University charges UL Athletics the full Out of State Tuition Price for each athlete. He went on to say that very few non-athlete out of State students pay anywhere close to the Full Rate. They negotiate a lower Rate. So the school is making a nice bonus off the athletes. And he indicated tuition was one of the largest expenses in athletics. He gave several other examples. His point was that even though on paper the way things are accounted for it appears UL Athletics was losing money, but when you factor in these types of things they really were not losing money.

I am sure Zipp will come along and correct my post.

You've got that pretty close to the mark! Last I heard, U of L athletics kicked in around $30 million annually to the university in the form of scholarship funds.

On this basis, the following statement may appear I'm contradicting myself on our recent financial issues. And I'm rounding numbers to make the math easier...

You add this $30 million--most of which wouldn't be coming to U of L WITHOUT athletics--to the athletics department financials, and athletics are way more profitable than they get credit for. Even with the losses experienced the last couple years, a $15 million decline is in reality a $15 net to the University.

Why this isn't a contradiction is because the calculation hasn't changed... When we (used to) breakeven, the University netted the full $30 million. At the moment, U of L is netting just half of that amount.

And maybe explaining why we keep writing checks and "Vince" keeps his job...

 

[gocards1987]

I'm guessing they haven't followed the money trail far enough. Maybe the schools are making it up through donors/boosters? It's hard to believe they'd continue taking on losses that large that they can't offset somehow.

Considering the goal isnt to make a profit, I do think that the schools use sone creative accounting to hide the amount they are truly making.

 

[beantowncard]

You've got that pretty close to the mark! Last I heard, U of L athletics kicked in around $30 million annually to the university in the form of scholarship funds.

On this basis, the following statement may appear I'm contradicting myself on our recent financial issues. And I'm rounding numbers to make the math easier...

You add this $30 million--most of which wouldn't be coming to U of L WITHOUT athletics--to the athletics department financials, and athletics are way more profitable than they get credit for. Even with the losses experienced the last couple years, a $15 million decline is in reality a $15 net to the University.

Why this isn't a contradiction is because the calculation hasn't changed... When we (used to) breakeven, the University netted the full $30 million. At the moment, U of L is netting just half of that amount.

And maybe explaining why we keep writing checks and "Vince" keeps his job...

You are assuming free labor in the form of unpaid players.

 

[rentalman]

You are assuming free labor in the form of unpaid players.

So are you assuming a College Education, free room and board, free meals, and the stipend they now receive is not adequate compensation? I think there a lot of people with a boat load of student debt that would disagree with you.

 

[KozmasAgain]

I agree rentalman if the athletes and their parents aren’t happy with all the perks they’re getting including facilities and equipment to display their talents. Then let them get all the parents together and build their own 300 million dollar stadium and all the other expenses it takes to run a program.

 

[zipp]

You are assuming free labor in the form of unpaid players.

I don't understand your point. I'm talking about the accounting that U of L does internally.

The only caveat to the simplified explanation I gave is the University's cost structure. It assumes that even with a thousand less student-athletes on campus, U of L would have essentially the same cost structure. And I think that is 95% the case. At the margin, we aren't hiring many professors and building many classrooms to teach student-athletes exclusively...