4 ms·

Why don't you start by cutting the football program.

by GFK_of_xmaspast 11y ago

deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
swiley 11y ago
Apparently these are a huge net (monetary) gain for most schools.
- PhasmaFelis 11y ago
  Is that true? I remember hearing that the University of Kentucky's basketball program ran a net profit, but also that it was pretty unusual in that respect.
  - vinay427 11y ago
    Yes, this is also true for the University of Michigan athletics department, which in a recent year spent around $145 million and earned $158 million in revenue.
    - fapjacks 11y ago
      And -- surprise! -- the University of Kansas.
    - barrkel 11y ago
      Of course, it's not enough for something to return a profit; it needs to return more profit than an alternative use of the funds. Perhaps it could have made more money investing in postgrad startups?
      - PhasmaFelis 11y ago
        My understanding is that the UK basketball program is self-sustaining, and additionally turns a profit for the university. It's not taking university funding to begin with. (Also, much as I'm disdainful of university athletics, declaring that only the most profitable programs have a place on campus seems like a really amazingly horrible idea.)
- Retra 11y ago
  I don't see why you can't have other extra-curricular profit centers in school. Why don't universities run application development, art, design, & business management together? Make some products to sell.
- ericabiz 11y ago
  The vast majority of colleges lose money on college sports. And when I say "money", I mean millions of dollars that come directly out of students' pockets in higher fees. Here are the numbers: http://www.al.com/sports/index.ssf/2014/08/ncaa_study_finds_all_but_20_fb.html http://www.al.com/sports/index.ssf/2014/08/ncaa_study_finds_... WaPo writeup: http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/sports/wp/2015/11/23/running-up-the-bills/ http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/sports/wp/2015/11/23/runnin... "The frantic spending race is playing out differently across the country. Higher coaches salaries, while common, are just part of an array of expenses soaring at athletic departments that fail to profit. At the University of California Berkeley, the mortgage on athletics buildings went from $0 to $23.4 million in a decade. At the University of Wisconsin, annual maintenance and spending on facilities went from $10.5 million to $38.2 million. At Florida State, pay for athletics staffers — not including coaches — went from $7.7 million to $15.7 million. At other schools, rising costs for travel, severance pay, recruiting and other items combine to keep athletics in the red."
tmptmp 11y ago
This is important. Most probably, the sports is proving a big factor that is killing the education in USA [1]. Excessive indulgence of US educational institutes (schools, colleges and universities) in sports has been a very big mistake made by the US society. [1] http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2013/10/the-case-against-high-school-sports/309447/ http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2013/10/the-case...

Why don't you start by cutting the football program.

deleted 11y ago

[deleted]

swiley 11y ago

Apparently these are a huge net (monetary) gain for most schools.

PhasmaFelis 11y ago
Is that true? I remember hearing that the University of Kentucky's basketball program ran a net profit, but also that it was pretty unusual in that respect.
- vinay427 11y ago
  Yes, this is also true for the University of Michigan athletics department, which in a recent year spent around $145 million and earned $158 million in revenue.
  - fapjacks 11y ago
    And -- surprise! -- the University of Kansas.
  - barrkel 11y ago
    Of course, it's not enough for something to return a profit; it needs to return more profit than an alternative use of the funds. Perhaps it could have made more money investing in postgrad startups?
    - PhasmaFelis 11y ago
      My understanding is that the UK basketball program is self-sustaining, and additionally turns a profit for the university. It's not taking university funding to begin with. (Also, much as I'm disdainful of university athletics, declaring that only the most profitable programs have a place on campus seems like a really amazingly horrible idea.)
Retra 11y ago
I don't see why you can't have other extra-curricular profit centers in school. Why don't universities run application development, art, design, & business management together? Make some products to sell.
ericabiz 11y ago
The vast majority of colleges lose money on college sports. And when I say "money", I mean millions of dollars that come directly out of students' pockets in higher fees. Here are the numbers: http://www.al.com/sports/index.ssf/2014/08/ncaa_study_finds_all_but_20_fb.html http://www.al.com/sports/index.ssf/2014/08/ncaa_study_finds_... WaPo writeup: http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/sports/wp/2015/11/23/running-up-the-bills/ http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/sports/wp/2015/11/23/runnin... "The frantic spending race is playing out differently across the country. Higher coaches salaries, while common, are just part of an array of expenses soaring at athletic departments that fail to profit. At the University of California Berkeley, the mortgage on athletics buildings went from $0 to $23.4 million in a decade. At the University of Wisconsin, annual maintenance and spending on facilities went from $10.5 million to $38.2 million. At Florida State, pay for athletics staffers — not including coaches — went from $7.7 million to $15.7 million. At other schools, rising costs for travel, severance pay, recruiting and other items combine to keep athletics in the red."

tmptmp 11y ago

This is important. Most probably, the sports is proving a big factor that is killing the education in USA [1]. Excessive indulgence of US educational institutes (schools, colleges and universities) in sports has been a very big mistake made by the US society. [1] http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2013/10/the-case-against-high-school-sports/309447/ http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2013/10/the-case...