(05-04-2020 06:22 PM)northcoastRocket Wrote:  So, I don't really want to get involved in this discussion, but there are a lot of things being thrown around with no data, and I like data. The idea that moving down to FCS would automatically save gobs of money and put UT on the road to a solvent athletic budget is not born out by the data.

- According to the Knight Commission Database for 2018, all FCS schools subsidize athletics. (Even MVSU, which only has a $4M total budget).
- The average FCS subsidy is $12M per year, but if you don't include the SWAC ('cause they have minuscule overall athletic budgets) the average is over $13M. (so, if you want to be average...)
- UT has a $20M subsidy in 2018. 10 FCS schools had equal or greater subsidies.
- James Madison (which was mentioned up-thread) led the FCS in overall athletic budget with a whopping $41M subsidy - double that of UT. (I do not know what they are spending their money on.)
- The average FCS school subsidizes 68% of the athletic budget. That's the same as the MAC.
- NDSU is an exception, with only a 31% subsidy, but that's not because of a lower budget. They have a MAC-like budget at $28M, but have much bigger revenues in ticket sales and donor contributions than most of the MAC schools.
- Illinois State is a reasonable comparison to UT. They have a $28M budget ($5M less than UT) and a $19M subsidy (only $1M less than UT)

So, it seems to me there is no guarantee that lost revenue from dropping to FCS would not be equal or greater than any savings. No guarantee UT would be competing for national championships every year if they don't keep spending the money at a similar level of the top FCS schools, which is around MAC level.

Worth noting that every school you mention, along with vast majority of CFB programs, are going to experience the same budget crisis as UT, the scale and impacts may differ, but UT is not unique, these other schools will also be facing large cuts to their Athletic programs. Any program with those levels of subsidy from student fees or operating budget across the MAC and also FCS will suffer the same fate. You refer to spending money at the similar level of top FCS or the MAC level-budgets that are also going to experience 10-20% cuts, that level of budgets will be gone.