(07-02-2019 10:35 PM)bullet Wrote:  

(07-02-2019 09:12 PM)Kit-Cat Wrote:  The number one problem with you guys is that most of you don't understand the budgets at all.

The "athletic budget" number should be thought of as a total outlay rather than a reflection of how much currency is actually spent.

Scholarships/Stipends
Game Day Costs
Student Activity Fee
Band Costs (some cases)
Salaries/Administration
NCAA Money
CFP Money
Conference Money
Ticket Sales/Concessions
Marketing Revenue
Donations/Pledges
Debt Service
Operations & Maintenance

All of this is stacked together to make the outlay (budget) appear as large as possible.

AAC schools are pulling in 5-10 million more revenue than the typical G5 and also in an attempt to position for a P5 invite have issued debt to facilities adding 10-20 million onto the budget in some cases.

In the MAC they don't build anything unless a big donor is there to kick off a fundraising drive to foot the first 50% of cost if not 75%. The exception might be Akron's new FB stadium where its put the school into $100 million dollars in debt.

MAC schools by and large are not "regional universities" where everyone is from a 20 mile radius of campus. They are not as susceptible to local economic trends like Youngstown St or a Wright St. The exception again here might be Akron which prior to the MAC was considered to be on regional university tier.

MAC schools then have too much of a enrollment threat like you find at regional university or a community college where an economic cycle can make or break a university. Therefore the $200 or $300 per year of the student activity fee that helps to cover operations is sustainable.

Then also with the TV money $30 million in a season for the MAC doesn't seem like a whole lot but relative to what the P5 is spending its worth x4 or x5 times that. Its significant relative to their budgets so there is no pressure to move down, with the exception of Akron which is retreating back to its historically regional level.

I was surprised Akron didn't close down shop for football when they had to replace the stadium. The MAC schools have to deal with declining enrollment and negligible student interest. About 10 years ago, I read that the state of Ohio had 25% fewer high school seniors than they did in 1980. That trend is probably accelerating. Michigan and Illinois are in worse shape than Ohio.

The overall drop in the number of 4 year college students has only been about 2% so far.

That enrollment drop is concentrated in the lower tier publics of Ohio, not the MAC schools sans Akron. They have to compete with online programs at a lower price point for some who don't see the value in a CC or a lower tier public.

U of Akron at the time was booming when they built the new stadium. It was all part of the master plan to try an elevate the school from being thought as lower tier like Youngstown St to more on the level of Toledo and BGSU.