The loss of March Madness has hit college athletics in its collective wallet to the tune of at least $375 million. Within the NCAA Division I ranks, the losses amounted to $1 million per school at the mid-major level to $4 million at the major conference level.
That’s just the beginning of the ways athletic departments stand to lose while they’re in the throes of this coronavirus pandemic. The loss of funds from the annual NCAA distribution was the first and most visible example of the financial headwinds that await, especially if schools are unable to have a full football season.
With football comes ticket purchases, premium seating sales, donations and other revenue from concessions, as well as royalties from merchandise sales. In many ways, the whole college sports enterprise rides on the back of football.
“My immediate attention is on all of the moving parts right now, but in the back of my mind, I think about football, I think about all of our athletes that rely on summer school and what’s going to happen this fall,” Ohio State Athletic Director Gene Smith said.
While schools prepare for football in the hopes that the pandemic subsides by summer, athletic directors are making more immediate adjustments to compensate for the current losses.
Iowa State Athletic Director Jamie Pollard was among the first college leaders to submit a comprehensive plan that addresses the revenue losses so far. In a letter to Cyclones fans last week, Pollard presented a list of cuts to help the program weather the financially hard times.
The Cyclones will use 12-month pay reductions for coaches and other staffers to save $3 million, contract bonuses and incentives will be suspended to save $1 million and ticket prices will be frozen.
“We felt like we needed to act now,” Pollard said.
Another AD, Wyoming’s Tom Burman, said he’ll take a 10% pay cut through the end of the year to ease budget pressures.
Other highly paid administrators and coaches are expected to follow their lead in addressing challenges. With fundraising at a virtual standstill on most campuses, there’s also the likelihood of booster-financed facility projects coming to a halt, especially if donors are unable to fulfill their pledges.
Central Florida is one school that has several building projects in the works, including the infamous lazy river outside of its football stadium. The school’s AD, Danny White, has said that completion of the project most likely will be delayed for a year, meaning it probably won’t be ready until the 2021 season.
At Mississippi State, AD John Cohen said he’s admittedly pensive about upcoming facility projects, including a planned $40 million renovation to the basketball arena. Not surprisingly, Cohen said the Bulldogs really need that jolt of revenue from football season to ensure those projects move forward.
