When your school asks for $$$, it's serious
Posted: Tuesday, October 20, 2009 11:08 PM
Filed Under:
NCAA
So your school rakes in the revenue. But odds are it isn’t profitable.
That’s according to the NCAA’s latest report on revenues and expenses. Only 25 percent of all D-I football schools made money in 2007-08. The others plays D-I hoops struggled to break even. (For the super dry version, click here.)
The report’s author, Dan Fulks, says it’s easy to figure out. The recession had a huge impact and "if you're not selling a bunch of tickets and you don't have a large alumni-booster base making contributions, and you're not in the right conference, you have very little chance of showing net positive revenue," Fulks said in a statement on the NCAA's Web site.
In other words, if you’re playing D-I football and not selling out your stadium AND bringing in the booster money, you’re hosed because the rest of the sports are gonna cost enough money to make your A.D. sweat.
And sometimes basketball doesn’t even help. Of the 119 schools playing D-I football, 67 made a profit. And of those same 119 schools, only one made money in women’s hoops in 2008.
(No individual schools were identified, which makes me wonder if it was Tennessee or UConn that made money.)
So when you get that letter from your alma mater asking for a donation, they’re serious. Time to pony up.
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