More than $470 million in new money poured into major-college athletics programs last year, boosting spending on sports even as many of the parent universities struggled with budget reductions during tough economic times, a USA TODAY analysis has found.
Much of the rise in athletics revenue came from an escalation in money generated through multimedia rights deals, donations and ticket receipts, but schools also continued increasing their subsidies from student fees and institutional funds.
Altogether in 2010, about $2 billion in subsidies went to athletics at the 218 public schools that have been in the NCAA’s Division I over the past five years. Those subsidies grew by an inflation-adjusted 3% in 2010. They have grown by 28% since 2006 and account for $1 of every $3 spent on athletics.
You can see why universities are so wedded to the concept of ‘student athlete.’ It prevents a competition for valuable athletes on the basis of price. The University is thus able to capture the whole of the revenue stream and keep talent broadly distributed thus maintaining interest in the game. They have created professional sports leagues that earn truckloads of money while enforcing amateur status on their athletes. It’s a neat trick, and it nicely explains the NCAAs obsession with rules violations about money.
I will never forget watching Joe Paterno participate in a panel discussion on CSPAN on this subject. He said (paraphrasing) “If you want to clean up the rules violations, then simply stop charging for broadcast rights.” The athletic directors on the panel immediately suffer apoplexy. After appropriate medical treatment, they were quick to respond “We can’t do that!” Of course they can’t. All the big money comes from broadcast rights. So the big money drives the pressure to win, and the pressure to win induces schools to find ways to compete ‘under the table’ for athletes on the basis of price. That threatens the integrity of the whole system, so rules are created to prevent it. Coaches are implicitly told “Do what you need to win, but don’t get caught.” The stench of hypocrisy is overwhelming.
carl