Why students should care about sports revenue

Skipper · February 22, 2017

Nate Jackson | Staff Writer

In America, we have ingrained certain indispensable values into our society such as freedom, the pursuit of happiness and college sports. There are few things in our democracy more polarizing than sports, maybe race and politics. The reason being is that nothing exemplifies the conflicts life presents quite like sports does.

Students should take a vested interest in the success of their school’s sports, especially the revenue-generating ones. Not only do they directly affect the advancement of a university, they also contribute to a dynamic, quality education.

When an 18-year-old high school senior is considering what college to attend, in most instances, the competitiveness of the football and men’s basketball team are taken into consideration. Everyone wants to be part of the winning team.

According to the National Association of College and University Business Officers, the quality of an institution’s brand helps determine the kinds of students and faculty a college can attract. “College athletics typically form part of that brand” for better or worse.

The example I like using to give my colleagues a better understanding of this concept is the Ivy league. Schools such as Princeton, Columbia, Yale or Harvard don’t depend on athletics to help form a reputable brand. The prestige of those schools does enough for their brand. They’ve produced the most powerful men in the free world for hundreds of years.

Even Harvard implemented the first systematic fundraising campaign in the U.S. in 1641. That said, they don’t need athletics to advance their curriculum or entice incoming students to open their checkbooks.

Which is the perfect transition into my other point: alumni giving. There is a direct relationship between athletic success and alumni donations, also known as athletic revenue. According to CBS Sports, by the end of 2015, Texas had athletic revenue close to $180 million, Ohio State had revenue at $171 million and Alabama was sitting at $151 million.

Alumni are motivated by various things, and some people feel that it’s their duty to give back to their specific concentration or to the overall well-being of their school. But when winning is a legacy, it’s a lot easier to pick up the phone and convince alumni to stay tied in and be involved with whatever their old university is doing.

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MeanGreen_MBA · February 22, 2017

I agree with this 100% Look at the increased contributions to schools like Boise State, Marshall, and South Carolina since they upgraded their sports programs. Sports gives a window to the public that may not be noticed otherwise. It attracts a more diverse and success oriented following.

FirefightnRick · February 22, 2017

9 hours ago, Skipper said:

Nate Jackson | Staff Writer

In America, we have ingrained certain indispensable values into our society such as freedom, the pursuit of happiness and college sports. There are few things in our democracy more polarizing than sports, maybe race and politics. The reason being is that nothing exemplifies the conflicts life presents quite like sports does.

Students should take a vested interest in the success of their school’s sports, especially the revenue-generating ones. Not only do they directly affect the advancement of a university, they also contribute to a dynamic, quality education.

When an 18-year-old high school senior is considering what college to attend, in most instances, the competitiveness of the football and men’s basketball team are taken into consideration. Everyone wants to be part of the winning team.

According to the National Association of College and University Business Officers, the quality of an institution’s brand helps determine the kinds of students and faculty a college can attract. “College athletics typically form part of that brand” for better or worse.

The example I like using to give my colleagues a better understanding of this concept is the Ivy league. Schools such as Princeton, Columbia, Yale or Harvard don’t depend on athletics to help form a reputable brand. The prestige of those schools does enough for their brand. They’ve produced the most powerful men in the free world for hundreds of years.

Even Harvard implemented the first systematic fundraising campaign in the U.S. in 1641. That said, they don’t need athletics to advance their curriculum or entice incoming students to open their checkbooks.

Which is the perfect transition into my other point: alumni giving. There is a direct relationship between athletic success and alumni donations, also known as athletic revenue. According to CBS Sports, by the end of 2015, Texas had athletic revenue close to $180 million, Ohio State had revenue at $171 million and Alabama was sitting at $151 million.

Alumni are motivated by various things, and some people feel that it’s their duty to give back to their specific concentration or to the overall well-being of their school. But when winning is a legacy, it’s a lot easier to pick up the phone and convince alumni to stay tied in and be involved with whatever their old university is doing.

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Quote

As for the University of North Texas, we generate $8.35 million in athletic revenue between men and women’s sports, which results in a $3.24 million profit....

Something doesn't seem right with this?

Quote

The men's and women's Football teams combined have 1 head coach(es), 9 assistant coach(es), and total revenues of $8,348,300, total expenses of $5,112,509 and profits of $3,235,790.

I was not aware that we not only had a women's football team but it makes a profit as well?

Rick

Edited February 22, 2017 by FirefightnRick

Cr1028 · February 22, 2017

21 minutes ago, FirefightnRick said:

Something doesn't seem right with this?

I was not aware that we not only had a women's football team but it makes a profit as well?

Rick

I think it is a programming deal that calculates revenue/coaches/etc by sport and not the gender so it would likely say men's and women's soccer too, even though we only have women's.

MeanGreen_MBA · February 22, 2017

I believe a lot of that revenue is generated by merchandise sales as well. ticket sales a lone will not hit that number

untjim1995 · February 22, 2017

2 hours ago, MeanGreen_MBA said:

I agree with this 100% Look at the increased contributions to schools like Boise State, Marshall, and South Carolina since they upgraded their sports programs. Sports gives a window to the public that may not be noticed otherwise. It attracts a more diverse and success oriented following.

This is so true...

And in the hundred plus years of fielding revenue sports teams here, that's not how the university has looked at sports. The university's main windows will always be music, arts, and a "value" education. If sports moved up in front of any of them, the uproar in Denton would be huge. We have about 2% of the UNT alumni that follow our teams closely. Maybe that changes in the decades ahead, but I just don't see it happening anytime soon.

BTG_Fan1 · February 22, 2017

1 hour ago, untjim1995 said:

This is so true...

And in the hundred plus years of fielding revenue sports teams here, that's not how the university has looked at sports. The university's main windows will always be music, arts, and a "value" education. If sports moved up in front of any of them, the uproar in Denton would be huge. We have about 2% of the UNT alumni that follow our teams closely. Maybe that changes in the decades ahead, but I just don't see it happening anytime soon.

While I do agree that there could be an uproar, honestly they should embrace it. Yes UNT is known in the liberal arts world, but outside of that UNT isn't a known school usually.

Having a successful AD Department, is a great way to market the school and it leads to higher # of students enrolling as well. Also, as dumb as it sounds a successfully sports program makes the money to pay for there safe places as well.