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Turns out that the universities that get to the Final Four not only don't make a lot of money from it, they actually lose money as a reward for making it that far. This puts the lie to the notion that sports brings in money to a college: Sure they do! But they often lose more than they bring in.
Final-Four universities are obliged to buy 400 hotel rooms, spend $32,000 on a party in a local convention hall, and much more. They also only get to buy a small number of tickets, so they end up having to pay top dollar to see the games.
The University of Texas lost $130,000 on their last Final Four appearance. On the bright side, it's possible that they might make it up later through merchandise and such.
Once again: Why do educational institutions have sports programs?
Chris
Final-Four universities are obliged to buy 400 hotel rooms, spend $32,000 on a party in a local convention hall, and much more. They also only get to buy a small number of tickets, so they end up having to pay top dollar to see the games.
The University of Texas lost $130,000 on their last Final Four appearance. On the bright side, it's possible that they might make it up later through merchandise and such.
Once again: Why do educational institutions have sports programs?
Chris
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A: More scholarship money going to people who did well in sports than to people who did well academically.
and
B: A member of the dressage team (yes, they had one! Hey, they're in Lexington. The people of Lexington, KY have also been known to dabble in riding occasionally.) anyway, member of the dressage team qualified for the national championships. She and the coach put in a request for some relatively small amount of money (Less than $2000, I think) to transport themselves and the horse to said championships. It was turned down. It was widely believed by the students that this was because she was, you know. One of those. No, not a horse-back rider. One of those... those people who don't matter so much in sports? What do you call them again? You know, they look a lot like Real Athletes, but they're smaller and a funny shape?
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Here's an example. At Notre Dame, football television contract revenue and many other University gifts and investments have resulted in undergraduate scholarship endowment growing from $88 million in 1988 to more than $727 million as of September 2003.
Plus, the loss of the monies the universities are forced to pay at the Final Four, is partially balanced by their shares of their respective NCAA organizations' television contracts. While basketball isn't the revenue powerhouse football is, it still isn't chicken feed.
Notre Dame may not be the best case to use as an example of college sports revenue, since they aren't part of a conference, and due to their reputation probably receive a bigger than average contract. However, don't for a moment think that the Big 10 and Big 12 don't get extremely large contracts. In fact, according to what I've read each Big 12 university receives over 4 million dollars on average annually. That of course, is adjusted due to individual demographics for each member university. Also keep in mind that the Big 12's tv contract is second only to the Big 10's. In 2010, that contract will get re-negotiated or extended. With KU's consistent appearances in the NCAA tournament, and their recent football performance, expect their share of the Big 12 contract to increase.
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It also winds up being a promotional tool for the school. Having your school mentioned in the news or with broadcast sporting events is advertising for the school. They might lose money on the game, but every one that is broadcast is hour or more of advertising for the school, and on TV that amounts to a large dollar value.
"Hey, look at us! We're number one! Please pay us hundreds of dollars per credit hour so you can be number one too! (Foam fingers and face paint are available at the booth to your left for an additional charge)"
Personally, I never got the whole fascination with sports. I even let a roommate drag me to a hockey game once, just to give it a chance. I fell asleep.
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It's probably true that the Final Four expenses, taken by themselves, exceed the revenue specifically from the Final Four, but the other revenue thus generated -- not just merchandise but increases in donations from boosters -- still, I imagine, makes a Final Four appearance a huge win.
You have a rooting interest this year, Chris, right? I'm rooting for Kansas myself, because I still like Bill Self even though he left Illinois -- in a way that might have helped Illinois make its final game a couple of years ago ... in many people's eyes having Bruce Weber coach a team mostly recruited by Bill Self is pretty much the best of both worlds.
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Like four years later they were cutting foreign language programs.
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So although I'd like to think of universities as being about academics, it's nice that they're able to help the school as a whole.
Story inspired by the general topic:
Once I went to an alumni event. The guest of honor was some university official, who made a speech. After the speech, he did a question-and-answer session. My question was about whether the the then-recent expansion of the Big Eight to the Big Twelve was strictly a sports association, or if the academic side of the alliance would expand to the four newly-added schools too. His reaction seemed to be a restrained thought along the lines of, "What the hell is someone doing asking a non-sports question at an alumni event?" When he regained his composure, he confessed to not knowing the answer. The guy was a big-time university official, and he had no idea.
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I would think it would be very amusing to hear of a school turning down its slot in the final four if it couldn't fund the trip. But if the figures you mention are correct, it could probably happen, especially if it was a small school that doesn't usually perform well and so doesn't have the normal revenue from licensing and outside funding that the big name schools have.
I've questioned some of the aspects of how college sports are handled as well. When I was in school and volunteering at KJHK setting the radio station up to do online broadcasting, there was a lot of static because the sports department did not want KJHK broadcasting sports commentary of the games which would compete with the exclusive broadcasting that the sports department does. Of course at the time, I thought "WTF, its the student radio station, why doesn't the sports department just let KJHK handle the broadcasting."
I'm betting the actual amount of money that the sports department shells out and brings in is probably pretty obscene, especially compared to other departments on campus, in fact, if I actually saw the figures, I would probably throw-up.
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Yes, licensed apparel. Also, name recognition. Like it or not, a solid athletics program does make the school more visible academically. A good bball team also attracts further good recruits for more good bball teams, as well as donations from wealthy alumni and whatnot, and more students are inclined to enroll. Our team will probably also get an invite to some preseason tournament next year, which I believe will also come with a decent sum of money.
I have to admit, from a very young age, it was impressed upon me that I should go to a Division I school. (D1 basically means the biggest 125 or so schools in terms of sports and competitiveness.) Now, there are plenty of non-D1 schools out there with stellar academic programs. However, typically, a D1 school will be better than a non-D1 school in academics, even, having more money to throw around.
And, I have to admit, my hatred of the bball team this year (after the events of this past summer) has ruined what would have been enthusiasm for a great year. So, I'm not defending our bball team or anything. But I honestly believe that collegiate sports do contribute to the institution. Now, the marriage of sports and academics has been a rocky one, and I think that it could be conducted much better... Lew Perkins, the relatively new Athletic Director at KU, has unfortunately demonstrated a desire to improve sports programs at the expense of everything else - but there ARE schools out there who do things right, and it CAN be a very fruitful relationship for both sides.
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Because it starts in elementary school with kickball and T-ball, doesn't it?
Get the parent$$ involved.
.. and quit being a party-pooper ;)
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Now, if they lose, traffic might be fine. I'm mostly worried about class absences tomorrow....
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And there are exceptions to the rule, like Caltech. I take it upon myself to play devil's advocate quite a bit. Currently (and it's a long story I'm not going to get into here), I really hate the KU Athletics Department, with many good reasons, and last night's victory was hollow because I know of many things they have done to hurt KU as an academic institution.
That said, it doesn't take away from my previous comment that pointed out that athletics and academics CAN have a very fruitful relationship, and there are many places where they do.
Emotionally, I agree with you more than you know. However, as someone who has seen quite a bit of athletics departments firsthand as fellow student, RA in an athlete dorm, and a football recruit who opted not to play in college because I had a full academic ride (a good portion of which was paid by a sponsor who wouldn't have paid said money if KU wasn't a sports powerhouse), I objectively have to concede the fact that athletics can be beneficial.