A recent article published in the Austin American-Statesman questioned the nonprofit status of intercollegiate athletics, particularly after the University of Texas at Austin (UT) increased the compensation of its head football coach, Mack Brown, to over $5 million annually. The nonprofit status of higher education is based on their performing a social good, education, as…
Dr. Ted Leland, former athletic director at Stanford University, will be interviewed at 3 pm today (Tuesday, December 22) on ESPN’s Outside the Lines. Leland will speak about college sports television contracts and their impact on intercollegiate athletics. Leland is currently the Vice President for University Advancement at the University of the Pacific and also…
This opinion by Knight Commission co-chairs, William “Brit” Kirwan and R. Gerald Turner, was published in the December 19, 2009, edition of the Washington Post. The college football bowl season begins today, with 34 games scheduled from Dec. 19 to Jan. 7. We expect to hear renewed calls from journalists, fans and politicians for a…
Amy Perko of the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics was interviewed on WUSB 90.1 FM Radio Show “Everything is Broken” with host Jim Lynch on December 15. The title of the program is “EDUCATION: Big-Time College Sports Programs.” Perko discussed the impact of athletics on universities that have committed to big-time athletics, and knowledge of…
The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review recently published an article which investigated the myth that college athletic departments reap significant profits when their football teams are invited to high-profile bowl games, particularly Bowl Championship Series games. The paper notes that most BCS-affiliated conferences (Atlantic Coast, Big East, Big Ten, Big Twelve, Pacific 10, Southeastern) pool the payouts among…
An article published by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette raised questions about whether the increasing costs for major athletics programs was justifiable with consideration of the challenges of the rest of the academic financial obligations at higher education institutions. The paper stated that the the costs were extremely high, particularly in a time of shrinking school endowments…
Street & Smith’s Sports Business Journal published an article on December 7 looking into five significant issues that will likely face the next NCAA President. Fiscal responsibility is cited as the top issue. The article references the Knight Commission’s presidential survey that questions the financial sustainability of the current Division I model and the widening…
At Western Kentucky University (WKU), the most recent member of the NCAA’s Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), a keen eye on the bottom line is impacting its decision making. A recent article by the WKU Herald looked at how high salaries demanded by football coaches affects the institution’s hiring decisions. It noted the recent…
Outside the Lines (Sundays, 9 a.m. ET, ESPN) will present five pieces over four weeks starting on Sunday, Dec. 13 examining several hot-button issues facing college sports. A companion series on ESPN.com, including a database showing how much money flows into each of the 120 bowl-eligible college athletic departments and how it is spent, will…
A discussion on December 9 at the annual Street & Smith’s Sports Business Daily IMG Intercollegiate Athletics Forum featured a discussion about the financial pressures facing college sports, addressing the recent Knight Commission survey of presidents at major college football institutions which found that athletic costs are unsustainable. The panel discussion, titled “Chancellors and Presidents:…