Funding College Athletics/Paying College Athletes The view from the inside
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- Myth: College Sports Are a Cash Cow
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Funding College Athletics/Paying College AthletesThe view from the inside7/13/2011 -Dana O'Neil Kirt Cousins is conflicted. As arguably the highest-profile athlete on the Michigan State campus -- the official BMOC as the Spartans' starting quarterback -- Cousins sees the throngs of the MSU faithful crammed in to Spartan Stadium on fall Saturdays. They rejoice in his touchdown passes as though he has just delivered salvation to their souls, screaming and yelling while high-fiving their peers, plenty of whom are wearing his jersey. And somewhere in the bowels of the stadium in which the senior-to-be toils and labors, a green-visor-wearing accountant adds up the day's intake. Of which Cousins will net exactly nothing. On the other hand, he knows that, in one year, he'll graduate with a degree in kinesiology and won't owe anyone a dime. Jeremy Warnemuende is conflicted, too. He's a sports reporter at The State News, Michigan State's student newspaper. The eldest of two boys from Frankenmuth, Mich., a town that boasts the world's largest Christmas store, he writes about Cousins' touchdowns and the Spartans' gridiron successes, adding to the hysteria and the hero-worshipping with his chronicles. And he sees the money Michigan State is making thanks to Cousins' hard work and wonders whether it's fair that Cousins doesn't see any of it. On the other hand, he knows that, in one year, after he graduates with a degree in journalism, he will have to find a way to help his parents pay back the loans they incurred so he could go to college. Just in time for his younger brother to begin his freshman year. The hot-button issue of paying college athletes is percolating in the corner offices of the college game's power brokers, with ideas and solutions offered on a seemingly daily basis. Yet not even the people whose futures are being discussed can figure out what's really the right thing to do. What looks from the outside like such a simplistic argument is hardly that to those on the inside. "It's complicated,'' Cousins said. "I'm kind of torn on it,'' said Warnemuende, who has his fair share of spirited debates on the topic with his friends. Delving into the day-to-day realities of the high-profile, full-scholarship athlete versus the no-profile, no-scholarship typical student should offer some clarification. Get out an accounts ledger, and it all tilts to one side: • Cousins will pay nothing of the $19,500 annual in-state tuition that Warnemuende's family will fork over. • The $300 to $400 Warnemuende spends per semester on books? Cousins doesn't owe any of it. • Warnemuende pays about $600 a month in rent (plus utilities) for the house he shares with three other guys. Cousins' apartment is part of his scholarship. • Need dinner? Warnemuende and his housemates split the grocery bill. Cousins has a training table. "I actually have it pretty good,'' Warnemuende said. "I know plenty of people who work two jobs and then certain nights they don't sleep because they're working night reception at the dorms just so they can get their school paid for.'' Cousins will be the first to admit he has it extremely good. He can tell you without prompting how much his education at Michigan State is worth -- $78,000 (of tuition) because he's an in-state resident. And more, he has the insight to realize that pinning a dollar figure to the value of an education doesn't do the education justice. "We're speaking, at the age of 22, 23, from a bit of a naive perspective,'' Cousins said. "I don't think any of us can understand what having a college degree can do for you going forward and, honestly, we won't until maybe we retire.'' But here's where it gets complicated. A full ride, he explains, is a misnomer. Every year, he pays $100 per year to register his car on campus so the athletic department can get him a parking pass near the football field. That's $400 over the course of a college career. Yes, he can eat at the training table for most meals, but he also has to buy some food for his apartment. If he needs gas, he pays for it. If his tire blows out, he pays for it. When the cellphone bill comes due, he sends out the check. It's not a lot, but it adds up, especially for a person who quite literally doesn't have the time to get a job. And then there are the even bigger costs no one talks about. For example, football practice starts in earnest in late July/early August, with two-a-days crammed in the first two weeks. The schedule makes it impossible for Cousins and his teammates to take courses during Michigan State's second summer session. And because he's not taking classes, his scholarship money doesn't kick in. Consequently, for the months of July and August, Cousins has to come up with his rent and food money. Worse, in August, he has to pay for an apartment he doesn't live in. During two-a-days, the Spartans must stay in the dorms. "This is where everyone says, 'OK, go get a job,''' Cousins said. "Well, I can only really work for the month of July, so that's difficult. What can I do for one month? Plus, I'm quite busy for 11 months and July is the one month where you catch your breath.'' The irony is that there are plenty of ways Cousins could make additional spending money without the university having to open its wallet. If only the NCAA would allow it. As a member of Athletes in Action, Cousins spends much of his offseason speaking to community groups -- church services, youth groups, rotary clubs, whichever is interested. Under NCAA rules, he can be reimbursed only 50 cents per mile for his travel and receive one meal. A businessperson making the same sort of speech could earn a four-figure check. "People like Kirk Cousins, they give the university a positive image because of what they do and how they portray themselves,'' said Warnemuende, an unlikely ally. "And I definitely think they do a service for the university. Everybody around here is very proud of them. They're out there putting Michigan State in a good light.'' But Cousins, more keenly aware of the realities of college athletics, understands the potential can of worms that would spring open should athletes get paid for speaking engagements. It wouldn't take long for a clever and unethical booster to exploit the rule to funnel money to top-level athletes. And that is the entire conundrum of paying athletes in a nutshell.
"We need to walk before we can run,'' Cousins said. "To pay student-athletes X numbers a week for living expenses is Step 7 or 8. We need to figure out Step 1 first. It's easy to make a comment. It's hard to really understand.'' And easy to see why everyone is so conflicted. http://espn.go.com/college-sports/story/_/id/6762550/inside-look-full-scholarship-athlete-versus-typical-student Myth: College Sports Are a Cash CowOutside my office door, there it looms. Sanford Stadium, complete with its fabled privet hedges and 93,000 screaming fans on fall Saturdays, lies in the very center of the University of Georgia (UGA) campus, with the humanities and social sciences buildings on the hill to the north and Ag Hill to the south. It’s quiet this time of year, but the video advertising boards that flicker on periodically are an LED reminder of the South’s year-round love affair with college football. 
This is the most visible symbol of the UGA Athletic Association, a not-for-profit organization that in fiscal 2011 recorded operating revenues just shy of $90 million. That money enables the association to send its golf teams to Puerto Rico, track teams to Washington State, and Gym Dogs to Utah. Here and there, the Athletic Association also endows professorships and funds a few campus-wide projects.
As munificent as this is, this kind of spending is typical of big-time college athletics programs at universities across the country. The Chronicle of Higher Education recently estimated that college athletics is a $10-billion marketplace. What sets UGA athletics apart is that it can pay for its expenses without turning to the university for help. Only seven other athletics programs at public universities broke even or had net operating income on athletics each year from 2005-2009, according to data provided by USA Today to the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics (for which I consult). The others were Louisiana State University, The Pennsylvania State University, and the universities of Iowa, Michigan, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Texas at Austin.
Like these peers, Georgia’s athletics department is flush because it can depend on donations, ticket sales, royalties from rights fees and sponsorships, and distributions from lucrative television contracts. It is no surprise that the other members of this elite fraternity belong to the Southeastern Conference, the Big Ten, and (at the time these data were collected) the Big 12. For almost every other university, sports is a money-losing proposition. Only big-time college football has a chance of generating enough net revenue to cover not only its own costs but those of “Olympic” sports like field hockey, gymnastics, and swimming. Not even men’s basketball at places like Duke University or the University of Kansas can generate enough revenue to make programs profitable. As a result, most colleges and universities rely on what the NCAA calls “allocated revenue.” This includes direct and indirect support from general funds, student fees, and government appropriations. In other words, most colleges subsidize their athletics programs, sometimes to startling degrees. The six elite leagues in Division I are those that participate in the Bowl Championship Series: the Atlantic Coast, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, Pacific-10, and Southeastern conferences. Even with bowl-game revenues and television contracts, however, public institutions in those conferences provided an average of $5.9 million to athletics in fiscal 2009, including $2.4 million in direct general-fund support and another $2.4 million in student fees.
In other Division I conferences, public institutions subsidized athletics programs with $9.6 million on average in 2009. In the Mid-American Conference, for example, average institutional subsidies rose from $12 million to $16 million between 2005 and 2009. Direct institutional support nearly doubled, from an average of $4 million to $7 million annually, while student fees contributed an average of approximately $7 million. Why? Cornell economist Robert H. Frank applied his concept of the “winner-take-all” market to college sports in a 2004 white paper for the Knight Commission. “Suppose 1,000 universities must decide whether to launch an athletic program, the initial cost of which would be $1 million a year,” Frank wrote. “Those who launch a program then compete in an annual tournament in which finishers among the top 10 earn a prize of $10 million each… How many schools will decide to compete?” In other words, 10 programs will have a net income of $9 million, and the remaining 990 will lose $1 million. Despite the almost certainty of substantial loss, in the past decade only two institutions have left this marketplace—Birmingham-Southern College and Centenary College of Louisiana. In fact, Division I has added 21 member institutions since 2000, bringing its total membership to 337. Of course, athletics programs foster other, less-clearly defined but important benefits for their institutions. At liberal arts colleges like the one I attended, varsity sports drive enrollment. Should that count as profit? Any number of UGA students will tell you they came here because of the football team. What about goodwill generated among legislators and donors?
These are important considerations. Significant athletics investments may indeed be a good value proposition for building community, spirit, and support. However, no good measures exist for assessing these less-tangible achievements. Most studies find no link between winning teams and measures of institutional success like number and quality of applications, fundraising dollars, or state appropriations. Justifying institutional spending on athletics is becoming a much more pressing issue for most programs, especially in Division I. Institutions with Football Bowl Subdivision programs have seen subsidies of athletics rise by 53 percent at the median from 2005-2009, according to the Knight Commission. Meanwhile, spending on education and related functions rose only 22 percent. There are similar gaps at other Division I institutions.
If such trends continue, athletics subsidies will continue to grow, both in real terms and as a percentage of institutional budgets. For college presidents and academic leaders, it will be necessary to assess such investments in athletics in terms of opportunity cost. How else could general funds and student fees be spent? College sports can be a marvelous value experience and a focal point for community-building. But only a few colleges have programs that can provide such benefits without imposing significant costs on their institutions.
David Welch Suggs, Jr., Ph.D., is an associate professor of journalism at the University of Georgia. http://www.acenet.edu/news-room/Pages/Myth-College-Sports-Are-a-Cash-Cow2.aspx 21 Reasons Why Student-Athletes Are Employees And Should Be Allowed To Unionize Marc Edelman 1/30/2014 This week, college football players at Northwestern University petitioned the National Labor Relations Board to form a union. The NCAA disagrees with the petition, arguing that student-athletes are not “employees” under federal law. There are many reasons why NCAA athletes should be treated like traditional employees. Here are 21 of them: 1. The typical Division I college football player devotes 43.3 hours per week to his sport — 3.3 more hours than the typical American work week. 2. Although the NCAA claims college athletes are just students, the NCAA’s own tournament schedules require college athletes to miss classes for nationally televised games that bring in revenue. 3. Currently, the NCAA Division I football championship is played on a Monday night. This year, the national football championship game required Florida State football players to miss the first day of spring classes. 4. Meanwhile, the annual NCAA men’s basketball tournament affects more than six days of classes (truly “Madness” if the players aren’t “employees”). 5. At some schools, the road to the NCAA men’s basketball championship may require student-athletes to miss up to a quarter of all class days during their Spring semester. 6. At other schools, college coaches regulate student-athlete speech onFacebook and Twitter — even when their sport is not in session. 7. The NCAA currently produces nearly $11 Billion in annual revenue from college sports — more than the estimated total league revenues of both the National Basketball Association and the National Hockey League. 8. This year, the University of Alabama reported $143.3 Million in athletic revenues — more than all 30 NHL teams and 25 of the 30 NBA teams. 9. Much of the huge revenues collected from college athletics do not go directly back into the classroom. 10. Instead, a substantial share of college sports’ revenues stay ”in the hands of a select few administrators, athletic directors, and coaches.” 11. When the NCAA was first founded in 1905, the opposition to paying student-athletes was akin to the opposition to paying coaches. (If you doubt this, research early criticism of Alonzo Stagg). But, coaches today get paid, and handsomely too. 
University of Alabama football coach Nick Saban today makes more than $7 million per year. However, in the early days of college sports paying coaches was as frowned upon as paying student-athletes 12. Last year, the average salary for a BCS eligible football coach was $2.05 million. 13. The average salary for a premier NCAA Division I men’s basketball coach also exceeded $1 Million. 14. In 40 of the 50 U.S. states, the highest paid public official is currently the head coach of a state university’s football or men’s basketball team. 15. Meanwhile, Forbes reported in December that University. 16. Success in college sports is also believed to improve the application rates and caliber of admitted students at certain universities. 17. The year that Boston College quarterback Doug Flutie won the Heisman Trophy as the nation’s outstanding college football player, Boston College’s undergraduate admissions increased by 25 points and its average SAT score of admitted freshmen skyrocketed by 110 points. 18. Meanwhile, Patrick Ewing’s basketball performance during the 1982-83 NCAA season helped generate a 47% increase in undergraduate applications and a forty-point rise in freshman SAT scores during the following admissions cycle at Georgetown University. 19. Of course, there are many colleges that use their athletes as core marketers of the university. If not for college basketball players, think about how much more money Gonzaga University would need to spend on building name recognition to prospective students not located on the West Coast. 20. If not for college football, think about Boise State’s challenges in national marketing. 21. With these factors in mind, Division I football and men’s basketball players do not merely play a sport of leisure. Rather, they are core members of their university’s marketing team, as well as the labor force behind a lucrative secondary industry in hosting organized sporting events. http://www.forbes.com/sites/marcedelman/2014/01/30/21-reasons-why-student-athletes-are-employees-and-should-be-allowed-to-unionize/ Directory: uploads uploads -> 587 Return function, r i(X) r i(0) r i(1) r i(2) r i(3) 1 0 2 4 6 Thermal Station, I 2 0 1 5 6 3 0 3 5 6 10 uploads -> Department of science and humanities department of mathematics part-a questions and answers uploads -> The Case Against the nypd’s Quota-Driven ‘Broken Windows’ Policing What Is It? uploads -> For want of a nail uploads -> Ownership Models There are two different types of ownership models uploads -> Police Militarization uploads -> City of rising star regular meting thursday, july 14, 2016 uploads -> Township of winfield uploads -> Stop Militarizing Law Enforcement Act of 2014 uploads -> The Black Panther Party’s Ten-Point Program What We Want Now! Download 0.83 Mb. Share with your friends:
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