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Colleges Cut Teams and Budgets

In an article published in the New York Times, colleges and universities across the country are slashing millions of dollars from their sports budgets, including the elimination of sports teams. Of the 17,682 teams that competed in the NCAA in 2007-2008, the NCAA expects about 130 teams to be eliminated. The article singled out the…

May 2009 Knight Commission Meeting

“We built an enterprise under revenue assumptions that we have to change… we have just always assumed that corporate revenue, media revenue would just continue at the same pace, and that is obviously not going to be the case,” ~ Brit Kirwan, Co-Chairmen Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics The conclusion of another academic year marks…

Major College Sports Spending up Nearly 11% Annually

The USA Today and Chronicle of Higher Education reported on a recently released study from the NCAA which states that major college athletic programs (in the Football Bowl Subdivision) increased their expenses 10.7% more per year between 2004 and 2007, from $31 million in 2004 to $42.2 million in 2007. The spending was more than…

Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics Meeting Bios

John J. Cheslock, Associate Professor, Center for the Study of Higher Education, University of Arizona Dr. John J. Cheslock is an Associate Professor in the Center for the Study of Higher Education at the University of Arizona. Receiving his Ph.D. in Labor Economics from Cornell University, Dr. Cheslock’s area of research focuses on the economics…

NCAA Recognizes 767 Division I Sports Teams for Top Academic Performance

On April 22, the NCAA recognized 767 Division I sports teams for top academic performance as part of the NCAA’s academic reform program. The recognition awards are given each year to teams scoring in the top 10 percent in each sport according to their Academic Progress Rates (APR). The APR is a measure of a…

Kentucky Athletics Should Give Back More to University

A column by Tom Eblen of the Lexington Herald-Leader proposed that the University of Kentucky (UK) athletic program contribute 10% of its budget, or $6.7 million this year, to other university purposes, rather than $1.2 million that it will pay. Eblen notes the historical financial picture of athletics and academics at UK, painted by a…

Florida’s University Athletic Association to Make $6 Million in Cuts

According to the Gainsville Sun, The University of Florida (UF) has asked its University Athletic Association (UAA) to make $6 million is cuts, to be returned to the university’s budget. UF President Bernie Machen said, “They ought to take the same cut as everybody else.” The UAA’s budget reports show more than $80 million in…

Commercialization of Men’s Basketball Players Without Adequate Compensation

Two articles recently published argue that the current situation where players are increasingly commercialized without receiving more financial benefits is no longer tenable. The Boston Globe argued that college athletes are not being compensated at an appropriate level in response to the earnings of the NCAA and higher education athletic departments. The article demonstrated that…

Salary for University of Kentucky Men’s Basketball Coach Raises Questions of Academic Values

The Chronicle of Higher Education (subscription required) published an article which quoted NCAA officials as being critical of the escalating salaries of coaches at higher education’s most competitive athletic level, NCAA Division I. The University of Kentucky recently hired former University of Memphis basketball coach John Calipari with an eight-year, $32 million deal. “Eye-popping and…