PD Article on UA Sports Spending

[clarkwgriswold]

Interesting article from Plain Dealer/Cleveland.com on UA's sports budget.   It isn't basketball specific, but has some interesting highlights, the least surprising being the financial bind caused by the football stadium.  It also notes KD's retention bonus.

 

http://www.cleveland.com/datacentral/index.ssf/2017/03/university_of_akron_sports_sti.html#incart_m-rpt-1

[kreed5120]

Well, I will say this was a nicely done piece. Certainly better than similar type pieces from the ABJ.

[LZIp]

Informative. Please share the others if you see them. Would like to see the new guys in charge try to expand use of the Info.

[kreed5120]

Here is some interesting tidbits.

 

Bowl expenses: $768,786

Bowl revenue: $550,000

 

Keith Dambrot (salary) $932,017

Tickets Sale Revenue: $370,226 for men's basketball

 

Loan payments for the stadium totaled $4.4 million in 2015-16, of which $4.1 was assigned to athletic purposes.

Ticket Sale Revenue: $1,061,584 for football

 

Guarantees for playing away games: $1,287,000.

Guarantees paid to visiting teams: $818,151

 

[K92]

How happy do you think the average student is contributing $1183 a year for the athletic program?  I think I know the answer.  However, to be fair, a portion of the $7,248,175 line item should be deleted from the bottom line because scholarships don't really cost that many hard dollars.

 

There are lots of things to talk about in these numbers.  One thing that really stands out is the guarantees paid for home and away games.  I wonder how the numbers break down in those two categories between football and basketball.

[kreed5120]

5 minutes ago, K92 said:

to be fair, a portion of the $7,248,175 line item should be deleted from the bottom line because scholarships don't really cost that many hard dollars.

 

I agree with this statement. The numbers don't even seem consistent. Why does a rifle scholarship cost ~$79k

 

Men's teams (7): A total of 124.36 scholarships were split among 198 student-athletes, costing $4,067,092.

$4,067,092/124.36 = 32,704

Women's teams (10):A total of 94.8 scholarships were split among 162 student-athletes, costing $2,897,342.

$2,897,342/94.8 = 30,563

Mixed team of men and women (1): Rifle. A total of 3.6 scholarships split among 12 student-athletes, costing $283,741

$283,741/3.6 = $78,817

 

                                     In State         Out of State

Cost of Attendance       $27,002           $35,534

 

https://www.uakron.edu/finaid/cost-of-attendance/

[Balsy]

1 hour ago, kreed5120 said:

 

                                     In State         Out of State

Cost of Attendance       $27,002           $35,534

 

https://www.uakron.edu/finaid/cost-of-attendance/

 

Well not all programs are created equal.  The UA COA is based on lowest amount possible as an advertisement.

 

It all depends also on what classes one is taken, because the student fees per department vary.  I'm basing this off a Arts and Sciences student.

I wonder if they also factor in summer classes/lodging for summer?  Because the COA would be based upon Spring/Fall Semesters ONLY.

 

Per Semester Spring/Fall

 

Most expensive dorm:  $4764

Most Expensive Meal plan:  $2033 

General Fee:  $428 (based on 12 hours)

Tuition (16 hours): $4960

Administrative Fee: $30
Facilities Fee: $222

Course fees: ($200-$800 depending upon the course, and how many you are taking a semester, program IE Engineer, Chemistry etc)

Transportation fee: $175

Technology Fee:  $211

Career Advantage Fee: $48

Library Fee: $64

Textbooks and supplies:  (anywhere from $200-$1000 depending upon the courses)

 

Total: $29,147 (Spring/Fall) In-state; $35,000 ish (I'm sorry I don't care to readjust all of the values above accordingly)

 

SUMMER COURSES (Which a Lot of Athletes are Enrolled In, to help keep course load down during the season):  Based on 6 credit hours.

 

Tuition:  $2,480 (4600)

Transportation Fee: $120

Administrative Fee: $20

Technology Fee: $105

Library Fee: $32

Textbooks and Supplies: ($100-$500)

Course Fee: ($100-$400)

Most Expensive Dorm:  $4764

 

Total Summer:  $8,421 in-state; $10,541 out-of-state

 

Total All Year:  $37,568 in-state; $45,000ish out-of-state

 

So I agree...the $79,000 scholarship is a very strange one indeed.  But since it's split amongst 12 athletes who knows.  Without actually seeing a contract, we'll never know.  I'd imagine that there's certain things covered, while other things are not.  Tuition vs, not room and board, or fees and that sort of thing.

 

Edited March 21, 2017 by Balsy

[morris buttermaker]

The UA Athletic Dept is a train wreck financially --which is not news. As far as the COA, the baseball programs total budget was essentially swapped this past year for the COA dollars given to athletes at UA. Each school has some wiggle room in determining the amount, but I recall the amount being the same.

Edited March 21, 2017 by morris buttermaker

[clarkwgriswold]

3 hours ago, LZIp said:

Informative. Please share the others if you see them. Would like to see the new guys in charge try to expand use of the Info.

Sure will.  Just stumbled across this article but I'll keep an eye out.

[ZippyRulz]

Wow. Now I'm not so sure that KD wouldn't have been taking a pay cut to go to USF.

 

[Roo]

Paying KD that much for a program that can't even sustain itself is pretty sad. 

[Dr Z]

10 hours ago, ZippyRulz said:

Wow. Now I'm not so sure that KD wouldn't have been taking a pay cut to go to USF.

 

??? Details of Brian Gregory's USF coaching agreement  ???

[Let'sGoZips94]

Pretty disturbing numbers. 

 

I don't fault the University for its financial troubles. I think their marketing department is pretty poor, but the athletics budget drain is 100% the corrupt NCAAs fault. They've taken schools and have turned them into businesses, with essentially the only source of income being athletics, particularly football. In the article it states that Ohio State is the only Ohio university that 100% funds their athletics through athletics revenue. So it's not like UA is some outlier that dug themselves into a rare hole. 

Edited March 22, 2017 by lilroodude

[morris buttermaker]

12 minutes ago, lilroodude said:

 

I don't fault the University for its financial troubles. 

I 100% disagree.

[Dr Z]

I can't find any recent data comparing athletic program spending, but this fact has always stuck with me. 

 

In 2012, ACE indicated only eight public university athletic programs either covered their expenses (across all athletic programs; not just football) or broke even. Pennsylvania State University (Penn State), University of Georgia, University of Iowa, University of Michigan, University of Nebraska, University of Oklahoma, University of Texas At these schools, athletic programs brought in enough revenue in 2012 to cover their expenses without requiring financial support from the university. According to ACE, most of that money can be attributed directly to football. source

 

Here is the followup article on all Ohio Schools that includes this graphic. 

 

[kreed5120]

The problem extends well beyond athletics. Universities try outspending one another to attract the same pool of students then pass that cost off to the students. It's why tuition rates have been rising as rapidly as they have been over the past decades.

 

My cousin studied abroad in Germany for a semester and the university he attended was a converted WW2 military camp. It didn't have a 350,000 sq ft recreation center, a $60 million football facility, nor even luxury dorm apartments. It's how they keep costs down. If universities (not just Akron) focused more on trying to provide the best education possibly and focused less on the bells and whistles, today's youth would be receiving a better education and the student debt problem would be well on its way of self correcting itself.

[GoZips88]

 ... seriously ... 

[clarkwgriswold]

To summarize the article, Infocision stadium=

[LZIp]

So while second highest, we are really right there with OU, Toledo, and Miami. Cinci is the real outlier.

[Blue & Gold]

Why does Cleveland State exist? ?

[K92]

8 minutes ago, Blue & Gold said:

Why does Cleveland State exist? ?

So they can pack the Wolstein Center!  Duh!

[a-zip]

Scar has the "olive jar"  Proenza has the "Info"  just sayin'

[Captain Kangaroo]

I don't get why InfoCision itself gets so much grief. If it were filled to 20k on average, which should be easily possible, it would generate sufficient revenue to pay the bills. 

 

Info Cision is a resource. Figure out a way to fill it, instead of grousing about it. 

[Balsy]

20 hours ago, lilroodude said:

I don't fault the University for its financial troubles. I think their marketing department is pretty poor, but the athletics budget drain is 100% the corrupt NCAAs fault. They've taken schools and have turned them into businesses, with essentially the only source of income being athletics, particularly football. In the article it states that Ohio State is the only Ohio university that 100% funds their athletics through athletics revenue. So it's not like UA is some outlier that dug themselves into a rare hole. 

 

I'd argue politics has had a large, if not larger role in turning schools into businesses.  The relentless cutting of public funds for education have forced this culture more than athletics ever did.  Athletics became a part of the competition for limited resources, which in this case is students paying $$$.  In 1984 for public institutions public funding was somewhere around 55%-60% of a University's operating budget.  As of 2014 it's around 20% or less.  

[LZIp]

9 hours ago, Captain Kangaroo said:

I don't get why InfoCision itself gets so much grief. If it were filled to 20k on average, which should be easily possible, it would generate sufficient revenue to pay the bills. 

 

Info Cision is a resource. Figure out a way to fill it, instead of grousing about it. 

Not to mention people like to conveniently forget it would have cost more to renovate the Rubber Bowl. A stadium was needed, get over it.