6 ms·

Football/basketball makes money for the school. If anything it's a little absurd that the players make so much money for the university with little to no compen

Football/basketball makes money for the school. If anything it's a little absurd that the players make so much money for the university with little to no compensation for themselves.

ladberg 4y ago
For some schools sure, but do you have any proof of that for Berkeley? I'm an alum and as much as I'd like that to be true I haven't seen anything better than handwavey guesses. Last year the top 6 highest paid employees at Berkeley were all coaches or athletics administrators, of which the highest (head football coach Justin Wilcox) was paid $4 million. The football team isn't anything special, consistently coming in middle of the pack and not drawing in huge crowds. The people rooting for Cal are doing it out of college/hometown spirit and not because we think our team is the best. If instead of $4M we spent $200k on a coach, would that change the outcomes at all? That would save $84/student per year in tuition, which is not a negligible amount.
- NobodyNada 4y ago
  > If instead of $4M we spent $200k on a coach […] that would save $84/student per year in tuition I don’t know how California state schools are run, but at least in Oregon it doesn’t work like this. The athletics programs are funded from a completely different pot of money than the academics, specifically so that football spending doesn’t affect tuition. At Oregon State University (where I’m currently a grad student), the football program is profitable and brings in enough ticket sales to pay for itself and all the rest of the athletics programs too.
  - theGnuMe 4y ago
    Right and they could use some of that money to lower tuition but they don't.
    - SoftTalker 4y ago
      They use that money to fund all the scholarships and expenses for the non-revenue sports.
  - downrightmike 4y ago
    Don't you guys have a coach that retired years and years ago and is still drawing down millions from the state employee's pension fund?
    - NobodyNada 4y ago
      That’s Mike Bellotti of University of Oregon: https://archive.vn/ZGDP3 https://archive.vn/ZGDP3
- arrosenberg 4y ago
  It's the PAC12 TV deal more than Cal's individual performance, though obviously things will get weird with UCLA and USC leaving. If teams start hiring "cheap" coaches, the networks will object or demand lower fees.
vkou 4y ago
It makes money for a few schools, and loses it for the vast majority of them. The lottery also makes money for a few of its participants.
SoftTalker 4y ago
Athletics at most universities is an "auxilliary enterprise" it is self-funded by ticket sales and donations. This is especially true at the large D1 universities where the coaches are celebrities and highly paid. Coaches at small schools don't make a remarkable amount of money. Also players can now be compensated for their "name, image and likeness" and top players are earning millions.

Football/basketball makes money for the school. If anything it's a little absurd that the players make so much money for the university with little to no compensation for themselves.

ladberg 4y ago

For some schools sure, but do you have any proof of that for Berkeley? I'm an alum and as much as I'd like that to be true I haven't seen anything better than handwavey guesses. Last year the top 6 highest paid employees at Berkeley were all coaches or athletics administrators, of which the highest (head football coach Justin Wilcox) was paid $4 million. The football team isn't anything special, consistently coming in middle of the pack and not drawing in huge crowds. The people rooting for Cal are doing it out of college/hometown spirit and not because we think our team is the best. If instead of $4M we spent $200k on a coach, would that change the outcomes at all? That would save $84/student per year in tuition, which is not a negligible amount.

NobodyNada 4y ago
> If instead of $4M we spent $200k on a coach […] that would save $84/student per year in tuition I don’t know how California state schools are run, but at least in Oregon it doesn’t work like this. The athletics programs are funded from a completely different pot of money than the academics, specifically so that football spending doesn’t affect tuition. At Oregon State University (where I’m currently a grad student), the football program is profitable and brings in enough ticket sales to pay for itself and all the rest of the athletics programs too.
- theGnuMe 4y ago
  Right and they could use some of that money to lower tuition but they don't.
  - SoftTalker 4y ago
    They use that money to fund all the scholarships and expenses for the non-revenue sports.
- downrightmike 4y ago
  Don't you guys have a coach that retired years and years ago and is still drawing down millions from the state employee's pension fund?
  - NobodyNada 4y ago
    That’s Mike Bellotti of University of Oregon: https://archive.vn/ZGDP3 https://archive.vn/ZGDP3
arrosenberg 4y ago
It's the PAC12 TV deal more than Cal's individual performance, though obviously things will get weird with UCLA and USC leaving. If teams start hiring "cheap" coaches, the networks will object or demand lower fees.

vkou 4y ago

It makes money for a few schools, and loses it for the vast majority of them. The lottery also makes money for a few of its participants.

SoftTalker 4y ago

Athletics at most universities is an "auxilliary enterprise" it is self-funded by ticket sales and donations. This is especially true at the large D1 universities where the coaches are celebrities and highly paid. Coaches at small schools don't make a remarkable amount of money. Also players can now be compensated for their "name, image and likeness" and top players are earning millions.