Re: NCAA Hockey Financials
What is the motivation behind paying college athletes?
Both of these and more. It's clearly a naked money grab
Couple of factors - 1. People don't understand basic economics. They see CBS paid a billion for NCAA basketball rights, and think that all the schools are swimming in money. Forget about expenses, salaries already being paid, other payments to third parties, etc. We need to dole that billion out right now to those players.
I agree that a large part of it is many people see how much the P5 schools are pulling in and think that the players are exploited.
I only have the NCAA financials for 29 public schools that play DI hockey, only 19 which are full DI programs. Of those 19 the total earned revenue for 2018 averages $64,626,647 per school, but the median is just $15,663,354, since the B1G schools and Arizona State account for the bulk of the revenue. OSU tops the table with $205.5 million and with ASU bringing up the rear of the P5 schools with $93 million. Of the rest of the schools UConn is tops with $40.3 million, Air Force next with $19.8 million and UMass Lowell at the bottom with just $3.2 million in earned revenue. However, most people don’t even look at the earned revenue and just see the reported revenue, which also includes the subsidies that the schools and local, state and federal governments provide to fund athletics. Looked at this way the average revenue for the 19 schools jumps to $80.8 million and the median jumps to $48.1 million. OSU still leads and since they report no subsidies their revenue remains $205.5 million, but ASU revenue rises to $113.6 million. Of the rest UConn revenue rises to $79.3 million, Air Force revenue goes to $60.1 million and UMass Lowell revenue goes to 21.3 million.
That looks great, but as mentioned; when expenses are looked at you see a different picture. OSU expended $203.8 million of its revenue, leaving a profit of just $1.75 million. Of the $203.8 million, $25.05 million ($21.3 million on scholarships and $3.75 million on meals) goes to the athletes. If OSU had to spend another $75 million paying the athletes 50% of their revenue it is likely many sports would have to be dropped. ASU expended $126.8 million, $13.2 million more than their reported revenue and $33.8 million more than their earned revenue. They spent $17.55 million ($15.7 million on scholarships and $ 1.85 million on meals) on the athletes and if they had to spend another $46.5 million paying athletes 50% of their earned revenue that would totally wreck their athletic budget and as mentioned, they might not be able to survive.
Of course, when most people talk about paying the athletes they actually only mean the football and men’s basketball players. Looking at OSU for 2018 football revenue was $110.7 million and expenses were $46.1 million, for a earned profit of $64.4 million. They awarded $6.6 million ($4.1 million in scholarships and $2.5 million in meals) to the athletes, a far cry from $55.3 million (50% of revenue). And even if the players received that amount the football program would still have made $15.6 million profit. OSU men’s basketball revenue was $24 million and expenses were $22 million, although $6.4 million of that was for severance. If that was not counted then the basketball team made $8.4 million in earned profit. They awarded $711 thousand ($616 thousand in scholarships and $95 thousand in meals) to the athletes, again a far cry from $12 million (50% of revenue). However, if OSU did pay out the $12 million the program would have lost $3.6 million (or $10 million with the severance included). So, paying the football and men’s basketball athletes 50% of revenue would have reduced the amount OSU had available for other sports programs by $60 million.
Looking at ASU, it is a very different picture. For 2018 football revenue was $50.1 million and expenses were $52.8 million, for a loss of $2.7 million (although $12.9 million was for severance). If that was not counted football would have made a profit of $10.2 million. They awarded $4.5 million ($3.6 million in scholarships and $905 thousand in meals) to the athletes, a fraction of $25 million (50% of revenue). And if the players had received that amount the football program would have lost $10.3 million not including the severance ($23.2 million with it included). ASU men’s basketball revenue was $8.7 million and expenses were $8.1 million, for a small profit of $600 thousand. They awarded $581 thousand ($500 thousand in scholarships and $81 thousand in meals) to the athletes, again, a fraction of $4.35 million (50% of revenue). If ASU paid that to the players then the team would have lost $3.75 million. If ASU’s football and men’s basketball programs lost $14 million dollars a year combined it would be hard for the school to keep either of them going, let alone the rest of their sports programs.
Sean
