Major stakeholders in college athletics today often find themselves weighing the relationship between commercialism and student-athlete welfare, said industry leaders this morning at the IMG Intercollegiate Athletics Forum. Texas men’s AD Steve Patterson, who has expressed a desire to raise his department’s annual revenue to $200M, stressed that revenue generation and the well-being of student athletes go hand-in-hand. Patterson: “Without the revenue to provide those services, you’re not going to have those transformative experiences. You’re not going to be able to keep the number of student-athletes you have on campus. You’re not going to be able to keep the number of scholarships.”
Ohio State VP & AD Gene Smith said that while student-athletes are the top priority in making financial decisions, the image of his institution also plays a major role. Smith: “We walk away from a lot of money because at the end of the day it doesn’t really tie to our mission or it negatively reflects on our institution. … The reality is that there are certain things you say principally and value-wise I’m not going to do because it impacts the image of the institution.”
