Collegiate athletic departments "typically spend more money than they generate," and by the NCAA’s reckoning, "fewer than two dozen public schools can cover their annual operating expenses without money from university coffers, government sources or student fees," according to Brady, Berkowitz & Upton of USA TODAY. Total revenue for the 50 public schools in Power Five conferences rose by $304M in '15, but spending rose by $332M from the year before. At the 178 public schools in D-I conferences outside the Power Five, revenue increased by $199M, but spending rose by $218M. Economist Andrew Zimbalist said that this kind of spending is "not sustainable, and he thinks litigation of some stripe -- courts deciding players can be paid beyond their scholarships, for instance -- could cause the bubble to burst." NCAA President Mark Emmert said the fact that so few athletics programs are self-sufficient "demonstrates their worth in terms of building community and providing opportunity." Kansas State President and NCAA BOG Chair Kirk Schulz "believes that the bubble metaphor is overwrought." Schulz: "I’ve heard that now for the last 20 years and I don’t want to be skeptical and say nothing like that could happen that would ever change the direction of intercollegiate sports." He added, "We all have record numbers of people who want to come and pay these tuition rates and get these degrees from our institutions. So I’m a little skeptical about the gloom and doom of a bubble that’s going to burst." But Schulz "agrees that athletics departments cannot continue to outspend revenue indefinitely." He "blames the building of more and more buildings" (USA TODAY, 4/18).
VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES: In Nashville, Dave Boucher in a front-page piece writes packed stands at Neyland Stadium or sellouts at FedExForum "overshadow deeper financial problems for athletic departments at Tennessee's public universities." Most of the athletic departments at the state's nine public universities "manage to break even or turn a small profit, but that's only thanks to hefty subsidies from the academic side of the university." The Univ. of Tennessee far outpaces "the rest of the state's public schools when it comes to revenue and, at least recently, haven't relied on an infusion of school funds, thanks in large part to their television contract and other benefits of playing on a big stage." But for "six of the state's public universities," 70% or more of their athletic department budgets "come from the university." Without the "benefit of major conference affiliation," where shared revenue is approaching or has surpassed $30M per school at Power Five programs, Memphis "must rely on institutional support." UM's $18.2M of institutional support "ranked second in the state" to Middle Tennessee State, which received $19.6M. UM received $2.9M in shared revenue from the AAC, "or less than 1/10th of what Tennessee shared" (Nashville TENNESSEAN, 4/18).
