(03-18-2017 10:50 PM)arkstfan Wrote:  If you are a university president and I gave you these options

1. Athletic department spends a bit more than it brings in and requires transfers of university revenue (direct or via student fee) in order to make budget.
2. Athletic department spends less than it brings in and transfers profit to fund the operations of the university.

Which would you choose?

Answer is simple. You choose option 1.
Why would you choose it? In option 1, the AD needs your support to do what he/she wishes to do. Choose option 2 and suddenly there may be a last minute expense that can't be avoided if the AD is displeased.

No president who understands the politics of it all is putting their AD in a position to have control over what they do.

Notre Dame picked Option #2 a long time ago.

The athletic department transfers its profits into the general fund of the university and have been doing so since at least 1991, when it first signed its NBC contract.

From 1991:

"Notre Dame gains $38 million, which it plans to distribute to the general scholarship fund, not just to the athletic department."

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1991-...e-football


From 1993:


"So how does all this get paid for? Notre Dame is close to unique in that the net revenue from the athletic department goes to the school's general fund. All bowl money and a large amount of the NBC-generated television income goes toward academic scholarships.

"The last two years, among bowl money, the NBC contract and licensing and marketing," said Beauchamp, "we've increased our endowment for scholarships by close to $18 million."

http://articles.latimes.com/1993-09-11/s...tre-dame/2


From 2010:


Here is a good description on how (and how much) ND athletics transfers to the academic side from a 2010 book on money in college athletics:

https://books.google.com/books?id=GG4u3R...ps&f=false



From 2013:

"Notre Dame plans to continue using revenues from the contract to fund the school's financial-aid endowment for the general student body, not including athletes. The school said that since 1991 (this is a 2013 article), about 6,300 undergraduates have received nearly $80 million in aid from revenue generated through the NBC contract.

Notre Dame also uses NBC revenues to endow doctoral fellowships in its graduate school and MBA scholarships in its Mendoza College of Business."

http://www.espn.com/college-football/sto...-deal-2025


So, I think that there are many obvious benefits to having an athletic department make a profit, provided that it doesn't just spend it all on itself while continuing to collect student fees and other subsidies.

I don't see any real upside to a college athletic program that loses money consistently.