The recent boom in construction of major athletics buildings has had a significant impact on college debt loads, according to an article published on September 28 by the Chronicle of Higher Education. According to the Chronicle, from 2003-2008, the nation’s largest athletic departments raised nearly $4 billion in private donations to finance capital projects. Although…
The Baltimore Sun published a report from the University of Maryland athletic department which includes a scenario of eliminating sports as an option to keep the athletic department financially stable over the next five years. The report, titled “Transforming Maryland Athletics: 2009-14,” offered three significant options for the University to keep the athletic program stable:…
On September 26, 2009, the Christian Science Monitor published an opinion by attorney Benjamin Rosenberg on the values of college sports in higher education. Rosenberg questions higher education’s commitment to academic and intellectual interests when it pays its football and basketball coaches more than any other university employee, including the school president: “Why go to…
The Arizona Republic reported on the status of the Arizona Board of Regents’ review of intercollegiate athletics in Arizona higher education. According to the paper, the purpose of the review of college sports in Arizona is to examine the growth in coaching salaries, how sports programs are funded, and whether opportunities for male and female…
Ernest Calderón, president of the Arizona Board of Regents, recently published a column in the Arizona Daily Star in which he stated that the board will begin an investigation of the role of intercollegiate athletics at its universities. In the column, Calderon states: “…I asked regent and former U.S. Sen. Dennis DeConcini to chair an…
An article in the Chronicle of Higher Education stated that financial reasons have forced Winston-Salem State University (WSSU) to remain in NCAA Division II instead of completing its transition to move to the NCAA’s most competitive league, Division I. “The resources to complete the reclassification simply were not available, currently nor prospectively, in sufficient amounts,”…
The Austin American Statesman published an article on the economic difficulties affecting intercollegiate athletics, with a particular focus on how those college athletic programs with and without resources are attempting to withstand the current recession. The Chronicle of Higher Education reported that in the 2008-09 school year, 13 NCAA Division I athletic departments dropped a…
On August 18, 2009, the Orlando Sentinel ran an opinion about the escalating costs of coaches salaries, particularly the salaries of major college football coaches. The opinion notes the 2001 report from the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics, which at the time called coaching salaries a “glaring symptom of the arms race run amok.” As…
In a July 31, 2009, article in Newsday, columnist John Jeansonne inquires about how long athletic departments can sustain the exorbitant spending for elaborate facilities, travel, large rosters sizes, and other costs in support of college football. Jeansonne prsents the argument that with less money to go around these days, but no less demand for…
The Orlando Sentinel investigated the finances of major-college sports with a six-part series: • Monday, July 27, 2009: Recession is changing face of athletics. A 2008 NCAA study showed the average net operating deficit among FBS schools was $8.9 million in 2006, a figure that rose 25 percent in two years. The article noted the…