When athletes become employees very few colleges will ever show a surplus. Look for lots of schools to drop lots of sports.For the first time in several years, USC athletics ended it fiscal year with a slight surplus.
South Carolina athletic department ends 2023 with financial surplus, 1st time since 2019
The University of South Carolina athletic department's revenue included $38.7 million from media rights and $29.1 million from ticket sales.www.greenvilleonline.com
I think because the money from a loss has to come from somewhere. Either the school has to raise athletic fees on students, which I think is very unfair, or ticket prices or donation levels have to go up.
What it means depends on the particular school. Maryland, for example, jumped the ACC before the current GOR because they were literally going broke and cutting sports. Big 10 affiliation was the only way they were going to fund what had been an ACC sports structure. I think they call that "irony".
Not inconceivable, but there's no one to benchmark. Schools will have to find out the hard way.
That's a revenue problem. Not a profit problem. They were spending all their money. They wanted to spend more, so they went to get more. My guess is they're not turning any more profit than they were.What it means depends on the particular school. Maryland, for example, jumped the ACC before the current GOR because they were literally going broke and cutting sports. Big 10 affiliation was the only way they were going to fund what had been an ACC sports structure. I think they call that "irony".
I'm pretty sure the schools have already been crunching numbers. The amount schools are going to have to pay athletes is going to be huge. It won't only be football and basketball players who are paid, it will be every varsity athlete and every athlete will be expecting the same amount of money. If soccer players are paid less than football players you can expect a lawsuit pretty much immediately and the soccer players will win.
Whatever you call it, it has to be covered or your operation will have to be altered. Only the government legally prints money.
Football alone would cost around $3,000,000 in payroll. That means women's sports would have to get $3,000,000 too. I think you will see schools do away with lots of sports, even some of the big ones.
No direct effects on my family, but I hate it for those good student/athletes who would be affected. Hey, we might have to reduce the head count to the point we would have to merge the men's and women's basketball teams and a requisite number of football players would have to be women as well. In the name of equity, absurdity could be enjoying a heyday.
If they are doing that when they have a surplus, they are extremely foolish. Any program that doesn't have a reserve fund of some kind is like a household without any savings.
