How come lately it seems like people keep wanting to bring up their school endowment? I assume that the Big12 rumors made it a necessity for fans on this site to look at their school endowments and then proceed to tell us how large they are. Such a waste of time.

Rice is north of $4 billion and close to hitting the $5 billion mark. Rice wins! Should be the next school invited to a P5 conference. The end.

If you were well endowed like me, you would understand why people talk.

Being guys, maybe they think "endowment" refers to something else besides money. Unless the endowment is specifically for the athletic department, I really don't see what difference it makes. Most athletes don't choose a school because it has an endowed chair for Physics.

It isn't the size of the endowment but how it is used. Pretty much useless to think schools will grab money from it to plow into athletics.

(11-14-2014 02:47 PM)TexanMark Wrote:  It isn't the size of the endowment but how it is used. Pretty much useless to think schools will grab money from it to plow into athletics.

That's always the line those with small endowments use.

(11-14-2014 02:19 PM)miko33 Wrote:  How come lately it seems like people keep wanting to bring up their school endowment? I assume that the Big12 rumors made it a necessity for fans on this site to look at their school endowments and then proceed to tell us how large they are. Such a waste of time.

Rice is north of $4 billion and close to hitting the $5 billion mark. Rice wins! Should be the next school invited to a P5 conference. The end.

Right....endowments mean nothing as far as athletics are concerned.

I do not think most people know that Endowment money cannot be spent......only the earnings from the endowment.

And most endowments are earmarked by the donor for a specific purpose.

That's the point as others have mentioned. Endowments are already set aside and earmarked for primarily the academic side of the school. Even given that people are trying to use endowment funds as a proxy for academic quality, it's still not going to be a major factor in and of itself. Too many posts and threads are started in this forum that are ridiculous.

What it does allow for is other fees, etc to be plowed into athletics, and yes, there are general endowments (that the earnings can be used for any purpose) and there are athletic endowments.

It does reflect a general level of support by alumni for that university

(11-14-2014 02:44 PM)bearcat29 Wrote:  If you were well endowed like me, you would understand why people talk.

Nice.



But seriously, in and of itself, endowments don't really mean that much in terms of athletics. However it does:

1) generally have a direct relationship to academic rankings. And while academics alone will not get you in a conference in realignment, they can keep you out

2) Generally shows the relative size of the donor base. Now whether that base can be tapped for athletics as well is a different animal, but it is likely easier for a school with a large rolodex of current donors to reach out to alums and donors to get more money for athletics than one that doesn't. Endowment is a measure of evaluating that, (though not a sure thing, as some endowments are large due to old money and not current donors, and others may only donate for specific purposes).

(11-14-2014 03:22 PM)miko33 Wrote:  That's the point as others have mentioned. Endowments are already set aside and earmarked for primarily the academic side of the school. Even given that people are trying to use endowment funds as a proxy for academic quality, it's still not going to be a major factor in and of itself. Too many posts and threads are started in this forum that are ridiculous.

More than anything, endowments are a proxy for age. It certainly doesn't hurt schools like Harvard and Yale that alums have been remembering them in their wills for several centuries instead of several decades. Of course, I haven't seen many fans touting Harvard as a candidate for the B1G despite their endowment.

There is talk about endowments because it is just one of many, many factors that are in play when considering adding a school to your conference. It's not the most important, or even close to being the most important, but it does matter.

(11-14-2014 02:19 PM)miko33 Wrote:  How come lately it seems like people keep wanting to bring up their school endowment? I assume that the Big12 rumors made it a necessity for fans on this site to look at their school endowments and then proceed to tell us how large they are. Such a waste of time.

Rice is north of $4 billion and close to hitting the $5 billion mark. Rice wins! Should be the next school invited to a P5 conference. The end.

Because people will always find a way to brag about their school, especially when their athletic teams are flagging.

Some schools are more endowed than others. It is a similar symptom with women.