College Sports Funding

[Chicago_inferiority_complexes]

Think this might be of interest. I wonder how long most UW hyphen sports programs would continue to exist if taxpayer subsidies dried up.

http://reason.com/archives/2011/10/14/stop-funding-college-sports

First three paragraphs:

Last week Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell handed down a tough directive to state agency heads: As you start putting together your budgets for the next biennium, look hard for places to cut—and don't spare anything. Programs that bring matching federal funds? On the table. Programs required by current state law? On the table. We can always change the law.

Given these stark realities, perhaps now is the point at which Virginia leaders should give college athletics a long, hard look. Why? Two reasons: (1) They cost a gawdawful lot of money, and (2) they have nothing to do with the purpose of a university.

Most college athletic departments are a net drain on the budget. Three years ago, the NCAA issued a report that found most athletic departments operate in the red. A more recent analysis by Bloomberg found the same thing: 46 of the 53 schools it looked at subsidized their sports programs. The money usually comes from sources such as student activity fees, such as that charged at Virginia Commonwealth University. Earlier this year VCU jacked up its fee by $50 to help fund the Rams basketball program.

[GGGG]

UW schools cannot use tax money directly for athletics.  So they can't use money for equipment, travel, facilities, etc.  However, there are some ways that tax money slips in.  For instance, if a facility is used *in part* for general student learning, it can be supported *in part* by taxes.  Also coaches can have dual appointments.  (Half-time coach, half-time academic advisor)  So they can have at least part of their salary paid by tax revenue.

Athletics at almost all UW schools are supported by student fees (which are controversial in and of themselves), donations, game revenue, etc.  At UW-Madison, their athletic program is completely self-sufficient.  They take no tax revenue or student fee revenue.  Their funding sources are donations, television revenue, bowl revenue, and game day revenue. 

So actually the real issue isn't the cost to the taxpayer...it is the cost to the students through mandatory student fees.  For instance, if you look at page 6 here, you can see the current fee rates for each school...as they were a couple years ago.

http://www.wisconsin.edu/audit/segfees.pdf

UWM ($131) and UWGB ($184) charge the most.  Oshkosh ($38) and Whitewater ($50) charge the least.  But these are huge costs in total that dwarf the fee that MU charges.

[Chicago_inferiority_complexes]

As the article from Reason points out (and as you alude to), while many schools and legislatures have prohibitions preventing abuse, money seems to make its way into the Athletic Departments in one way or another.

I wouldn't be surprised if most facilities have dual-use functions and are thus considered part of general university budgets. Also, I would consider the use of scholarships (especially for Title IX athletes) to be a subsidy from the rest of the university, which is in part financed by tax money.

To me, it isn't so much a problem of if taxpayers are funding this or that. I assume they are financing most Athletic budgets in some indirect way. I think the problem is when these "de facto" subsidies take money from the rest of the university, as the author points out with the phones versus golf stipend example.

[Benny B]

I wasn't aware that athletics were entirely self-funded through fees.  So if UWW has 12,000 students and each pay $50, they have $600,000 to fund 20 athletic programs (assuming donations, game day revenue, etc. is minimal if anything).  $30,000 per program doesn't seem like a lot.  I'm sure some programs spend more than others, but for instance, a weekend away series for a hockey team (via bus) could eat up $5,000 easy just in transportation & lodging.  I can't imagine what an away game for a football team would cost.

[GGGG]

I wasn't aware that athletics were entirely self-funded through fees.  So if UWW has 12,000 students and each pay $50, they have $600,000 to fund 20 athletic programs (assuming donations, game day revenue, etc. is minimal if anything).  $30,000 per program doesn't seem like a lot.  I'm sure some programs spend more than others, but for instance, a weekend away series for a hockey team (via bus) could eat up $5,000 easy just in transportation & lodging.  I can't imagine what an away game for a football team would cost.

Well, I am not sure their game day stuff is minimal.  They average 6,000 per game.  Five home games.  $10 per ticket = $300,000 not including concessions, parking, etc.

But yeah your number is probably correct.  My guess is that doesn't cover coaches salaries.  Another source of income are the sports camps though and those can be big.