INDIANAPOLIS --- Athletics department budgets in Divisions I and II grew at a double-digit rate between 2001 and 2003, according to the latest NCAA study of spending on college sports.

The biennial study, “Revenues and Expenses of Divisions I and II Intercollegiate Athletics Programs,” shows increases in both average revenues and average expenses.  Revenues increased at a higher rate than expenses in both divisions.

The study also found that institutions are increasingly turning to direct institutional support – transfers from universities’ general funds – to pay for athletics.

 “Leaders at our member institutions determine the value athletics brings to their campus communities and fund it accordingly,” NCAA president Myles Brand said.  “This report provides a quantitative analysis that, when combined with a qualitative look at the benefits of intercollegiate athletics, can serve as a guide in decision-making at the national and institutional levels.”

At the NCAA’s 2005 Convention in January, Brand announced the creation of a Presidential Task Force on the Future of Intercollegiate Athletics.  The task force will look into fiscal responsibility, student-athlete well-being and most importantly the value of intercollegiate athletics to the overall missions of colleges and universities.

"Our studies have shown no correlation between increased spending and increased wins.  Likewise, increased wins do not lead to higher revenues,” Brand said.  “This task force, in part, will examine how athletics budgeting is linked to the overall university mission.”

Brand said data from this study and other current and upcoming NCAA financial studies will provide context for the task force’s discussions.

The revenues and expenses study provides data in two forms: including and excluding institutional support.  The result is a clear analysis of the roles athletics departments and their institutions play in financially supporting athletics.

"Only about 40 percent of Division I-A athletics departments report excess revenues when institutional support is removed from the equation.  For everyone else, athletics programs are increasingly supported with institutional funds,” Daniel Fulks, director of the Accounting Program at Transylvania University and the study’s author, said.

Overall, expenses at Division I-A schools on average run $600,000 ahead of revenues with institutional support is removed.  That number compares to $3.7 million in Division I-AA, $3.5 million in I-AAA, $1.6 million at Division II schools with football and $1.3 million at Division II schools without football.  The study does not include capital costs such as construction and renovation of facilities.

At all levels, revenues were brought more in line with expenses with the help of institutional support.  The result was major increases in revenues when compared to the 2000-01 study. 

Division I-A institutions’ average revenues – aided by a 22 percent increase in ticket sales and a 20 percent increase in institutional support – increased by 17 percent, approximately the same as the increase in average expenses.

Ticket sales and cash contributions from alumni and others remain the largest sources of revenue at a typical Division I-A institution, contributing 27 percent and 18 percent of revenues, respectively.

Average total revenue increased 28 percent in Division I-AA, 22 percent in Division I-AAA, 38 percent at Division II institutions sponsoring football and 42 percent at Division II institutions without football.  Those increases compare to increases in average total expenses of 11 percent in Division I-AA, 19 percent in Division I-AAA, 19 percent in Division II with football, and 25 percent in Division II without football.

Direct institutional support continues to be the largest source of revenue for athletics programs at schools outside Division I-A.  It ranges from 49 percent to 61 percent of total average revenues at those levels, with the largest numbers coming from Division II schools that sponsor football.  Division I-AA institutions posted a 55 percent increase and Division II institutions with football programs recorded a 58 percent increase in direct institutional support.  Among institutions that do not sponsor football, institutional support increased 31 percent at Division I-AAA schools and 41 percent at Division II schools.

Student fees also contributed more to revenues than before.  Average revenues from student fees increased by 30 percent at Division I-A institutions, 22 percent in Division I-AA and 8 percent in Division I-AAA.  In Division II, they increased 17 percent at football-playing institutions and 27 percent at institutions that do not play football.

The study again analyzed expenditures for women’s programs compared to men.  In Division I-A, spending on women’s programs remained steady at 20 percent while men’s programs increased from 43 percent to 46 percent.  The remainder is classified as non-gender spending.

The proportion in Division I-AA is 30 percent for women’s programs (up from 20 percent 10 years earlier) and 46 percent for men’s programs (down from 54 percent during that same period).

The proportion allocated to women’s programs in Division I-AAA, where there are no football programs, has ranged from 33 percent to 36 percent since 1997, while men’s budgets have declined from 40 percent to 38 percent during that time.

Meanwhile, women’s programs at Division II programs with football are at 35 percent of spending (up from 22 percent 10 years earlier) while spending on men’s programs fluctuated between 56 percent and 58 percent during that period.

At Division II institutions without football, spending on women’s programs has settled into a range between 35 percent and 40 percent (up from 29 percent 10 years ago).  Spending on men’s programs is at 40 percent of the budget (down 3 percent from the last survey).

NOTE: Link to the study located in the Helpful Links box above.