Univ. Of Texas For The Past Three Years Tops College Spending, Revenue

An annual analysis of college athletics finances shows that over the past three years “no college athletics program has out-earned or outspent the colossus that is Texas,” according to a front-page piece by Wieberg, Upton & Berkowitz of the USA TODAY. The Univ. of Texas took in “a little more" than $150M in '10-11, which "outdistanced second-place Ohio State by $18.5M. UT's "outlay for football and 19 other varsity sports" was $133.7M, almost $11.5M more than Ohio State put into its 36 teams. The UT athletic department is “one of only 22 across Division I that operate in the black,” and a year ago "kicked" $6M back to the school’s academic side. UT's “unabashed athletics growth comes, however, as the NCAA continues to preach fiscal temperance, particularly to schools spending beyond their means in the chase for athletics success.” The study shows that “ten programs, all anchored by football," made or spent more than $100M a year ago. Nearly two dozen topped $80M "on one side of the ledger or both.” The Longhorn Network has “just started paying off" for UT, including a first installment of about $8M, with a total of $247.5M due over a 20-year contract with ESPN. Overall athletics revenue for ‘11-12 is “projected to approach $160 million, expenditures to rise by almost $20 million to $153.5 million.” Former Texas A&M AD Bill Byrne, who retired last week after 10 years at the school, said of UT, "They do everything they can to set themselves apart, that they are the very best, they are the elite." He added, "They're absolutely committed to having the best athletics program in the country. You've got to tip your hat to them." UT men's AD DeLoss Dodds said, "Whatever we do, we want to do it well. Whatever sport we have, we want it totally funded -- I mean totally funded.” Former Univ. of Arizona President Peter Likins “doesn't object to Texas' approach specifically.” However, he objects “to what it represents: unbridled escalation that dwarfs the growth of universities in general and all but mocks the financial straits that have led many schools to pull back on the academic side” (USA TODAY, 5/15).

THE HAVES AND THE HAVE NOTS: USA TODAY’s Steve Wieberg writes UT “poured as much money into its athletics programs a year ago as eight of the nine schools in the more modestly resourced Sun Belt Conference did combined.” UT President Bill Powers said, “We may get to a point -- I want to underline the word may -- where many schools are really not in a position to compete at the level of the Floridas and the Notre Dames and the Texases and the USCs.” He added, “I am not a fan of some national league, but we may end up with 50 schools in (the upper football division of the NCAA's) Division I." In the study of 99 public-school programs in ’10-11, the top 50 revenue producers -- led by UT -- generated an average of nearly $81.5M and the bottom 49 an average of a little more than $28M. Below is a chart listing the schools in order with the largest difference in total revenue gained and the athletic department’s operating expenses (USA TODAY, 5/15).