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RE: Connecticut's largest newspaper: Ominous Financial Times for UConn Athletics
(06-01-2015 07:46 PM)Attackcoog Wrote: Im going to step out a limb and predict that UConn athletics will somehow survive what ever disaster is described on the other side of the Hartford Courant pay wall....
Here's the story.
Quote:he numbers, oh yes, those pesky numbers. In various shapes and dollar signs, the financials of major college sports trickled out in the past week..
An SEC announcement here, a Big 12 announcement there and a USA Today analysis back there … in many ways they only reinforce what we already knew. It doesn't make the future any less foreboding for colleges outside the Power Five cartel.
"It is what it is at this point," UConn athletic director Warde Manuel said Saturday. "We can't do anything to change it right now. But I am not one to whine about where we are. It's just about continuing to win championships. I don't take a backseat to anybody because they make more money than we do in television dollars.
"We need to continue to win and continue to prosper in terms of championships and see where Mike Aresco and the American take us and where we can support them to improve the revenues in the future."
While there certainly is reason to let out a mighty huzzah with the impressive recent APR numbers for UConn, coupled with five national championships over two years, the financials sound a much more ominous tone.
We all knew it was coming. And guess what? It's here.
Look at the Big 12, which released these numbers at its meetings the other day: The conference is splitting up a record $252 million in revenues. Eight schools each receive full shares of $25.6 million for 2014-15. And that's not counting an individual deal like the $15 million that Texas gets annually from ESPN for the Longhorn Network.
West Virginia and TCU, as third-year members, are getting a million or two less than the $25.6 million, but they get a full share next year. You think West Virginia and that crazy rifle-shooting, coonskin cap-wearing mascot regret leaving the Big East/AAC in their rearview mirror? Not for a minute.
The Big 12 is the poor Power Five cousin compared to the SEC. At its spring meetings, the SEC announced it had increased revenues from $292.8 million last year to $455.8 million this year. The conference's year-old television network and the College Football Playoff contributed mightily to the jump. The SEC is dishing out $31.2 million per school.
As Manuel stepped on a plane from Miami bound for Hartford on Friday night following the conclusion of the AAC meetings in South Florida, those were some of the competing numbers he had to consider.
The American has a six-year deal with ESPN and CBS for $25 million total. There's the $70 million that departing Big East schools paid in exit fees, but when you add it all up, UConn is getting a pittance compared to the Power Five schools.
And, oh yes, there is this reality. UConn had the fourth-largest total subsidy among 230 public Division I schools. UConn, at $27.2 million, ran the third-largest deficit. Rutgers, at $36.34 million, was the worst, but these are 2013-14 numbers and Rutgers has since joined the mighty Big Ten.
According to the USA Today methodology, total subsidy is the sum of student fees, direct and indirect institutional support and state money. In other words, money not generated by the department's athletics functions.
"First of all, we're very appreciative for all the support the students have shown over decades to athletics and recreation to maintain the success we've had," Manuel said. "This year, President [Susan] Herbst [elected chairman of the AAC board of directors Friday for a two-year term] decided to keep the student fees flat and not increase them to have more liability on the students. We're supportive of that."
UConn is scarcely alone. By overpowering the NCAA, the schools from the Power Five cartel eventually will use their autonomy to leave everyone else sucking their fumes. Oregon had the largest total revenues at $196 million. Texas, which had the largest expenses at $154 million, was second in revenues at $161 million. Every school in the top 20 had a subsidy ranging from zero to 7 percent.
UConn was 49th in revenue at $71.5 million, but needed a 38.04 percent subsidy to even its $71.4 million in total expenses. Rutgers at 47.9 percent, Cincinnati ($27.1 million in subsidy) at 45.9 percent, Central Florida at 45.9 percent, South Florida at 44.1 percent … you get the American portrait. The percentages are shockingly high for FCS (1-A) schools. Central Connecticut, for example, was listed at $14.7 million in revenues and $12.96 million in total subsidy (87.97 percent).
Money is tight. States are looking to cut back where they can. Virginia recently passed a law that limits the amount of subsidy that state schools can take from student fees and other university sources to fund athletics. According to USA Today, Old Dominion, which made the jump to FBS football in 2013, would be limited to no more than a 55 percent subsidy. In 2013-14, Old Dominion had $26.7 million of its $41 million in total revenue — 65 percent — subsidized.
The numbers figure to grow only more critical in factoring the future of big-time college athletes. Coaches' salaries, new facilities, the ever-escalating cost of competing will continue to rise. And now, including the AAC, there will be added money to scholarships to cover the "full cost of attendance" stipends. There is a formula in place to determine the stipend. Fearing recruiting advantages, Alabama coach Nick Saban, who makes $7 million a year coaching the Crimson Tide, has called for a sort of salary cap on the stipends. Which is a joke.
According to a study of the 65 wealthiest NCAA schools by the Chronicle of Higher Education, Alabama intends to give athletes $2,892 each, while Tennessee plans to distribute a national high of $5,666 and Auburn a second-highest $5,585. Bama is projected to be 10th in the SEC. Saban is crying because he fears a competitive disadvantage to SEC rivals.
The private schools will distribute less. Boston College, for example, plans to give $1,400. UConn was not on the list, but Manuel said Saturday that the school tentatively plans to add about $3,200 to out-of-state students and $2,500 for in-state to existing scholarships.
In the meantime, UConn has to face the fact that the new College Football Playoff gives a base payout of $50 million to each Power Five conference. The remaining five FBS conferences split $60 million, a $12 million base. Those conferences, including AAC, also get to divide $15 million based on individual team performance. There are some APR incentives, too. So the AAC reportedly got about $15 million from this year's football payouts. Consider that the American got nearly $28 million last year in the final BCS season. That's a 45 percent drop. Not good.
With the addition of Navy and a two-division format, the American will add a conference championship game to be hosted Dec. 5 by the school with the best conference record. Manuel's hope?
"My hope is we're hosting it," Manuel said. "I like the idea. With Navy coming in and the chance to have a championship game, it is good value for us as a conference."
Championships. Diplomas. That's what Manuel insists that he and UConn are about. Across the board, UConn was impressive in the APR numbers released the other day. But none more impressive than the perfect 1,000 score by the men's basketball team for the second straight year (2012-13 and 2013-14). The team scored a 978 in its national championship 2010-11 season and a 947 in 2011-12 for its current four-year APR mark of 983. Nobody can say that UConn basketball is an academic sham anymore. The UConn women, of course, have always had strong APR marks.
"I'm ecstatic," Manuel said. "What our students have done in the classroom and the success we've had on the court, as an AD, it's my proudest moment. Those APR numbers are reflective of two years ago and to have two national champions that season, it's the proudest I could ever be. It's incredible."
You want to believe that diplomas and national championships are the bottom line. You want to believe that from the bottom of your heart.
But the Power Five cartel has a different view.
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Connecticut's largest newspaper: Ominous Financial Times for UConn Athletics
