Say It Ain’t So Swoff !! …. 12 of 14 ACC “member institutions” Athletic Departments operating in RED INK. Lots of it apparently.
“All but two” ….. leading to RAMPANT speculation. I was told by “a UNC Insider” (don’t we all have one of those) that UNC’s AthDept cleared “about $75,000” last fiscal year.… which ain’t much in an $80,000,000 budget…. about two secretaries or Ken Wainstein’s car rental.
I have no clue which schools are / are not profiting. Various partisans speak for your own institutions. What say you BK?
- Will Frau be passing KFC buckets thru the stands Sat for $$$ to keep the Jumbos on?
- What will Urkel and Carlton’s mini-mob @ UNC say about this?
- So much for those “lucrative” Syracuse and Pittsburgh TV markets ??
- But But…. Don’t “Fat Cats” take care of this unpleasant stuff ?? – a/k/a – The millennials solution to everything.
- Remember…. Going to any bowl other than a Top Tier is ALWAYS a money-loser when all the bills have been paid.
FYI: Creative accounting and all sorts of special “Funds” and “Foundations” get involved in Hindenburg Hangars and multi-million $$$ coaching salary extensions etc etc etc etc ….. at least thats what “they say”.
Surely this will all be laid at the feet of a certain much-maligned “Commish”. Board Monkeys will scream NO WAY to these harsh realities. That is why they are called “Board Monkeys”. They are quite stoopid.
I’m sure each AthDept will be responding to this article with various forms of gobbleygook assuring it’s rabid partisans that…
“WE are doing fine at fill in your school …. but send us lots mo’ money ASAP !!”
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ACC schools find themselves in major financial trouble
Originally posted on The Student Section
By Andrew Coppens | Last updated 11/24/15
Modern day college athletics is more about money than it has ever been about before. Conference expansion, television deals and network creation are all about the eyeballs and money that can be added to the conference coffers.
The SEC and Big Ten lead the revenue side of big-time college athletics, and the ACC wasn’t supposed to be that far behind. It reworked a television deal with ESPN to pull them in close to the SECs and Big Tens of the world. There were promises of an ACC Network as well.
Since then though, ACC programs haven’t exactly reaped the benefits of said increases in revenue streams. Partly because the ACC Network is still in the works and appears to be on hold, but also because the cost of doing business has risen to levels few of these programs can afford.
It has all led to a major crisis in conference athletic department bottom lines. According to a Washington Post article,
all but two of the ACC’s full-member institutions are in the negative despite major increases in revenue streams.
To be fair to the ACC, it isn’t the only conference with problems, with schools like Auburn, Maryland and Rutgers running big deficits and all but two Pac-12 schools in the red as well. However, the ACC is special in that almost every member of the conference is seeing their athletic budgets dripped in red ink, including two programs that were in the black just a decade ago.
New facilities, increasing coaches salaries, increasing athletic department staffing and increasing maintenance costs are partly to blame according to the Washington Post article. However, the article also demonstrates that this is a long-term problem for most athletic departments in the ACC, with all but two members back in 2004 in the red and all of them operating in the red in 2014.
No doubt that to be amongst the big boys the ACC has had to significantly invest in upgrades, but the conference has also done a good job of recognizing the need for more revenue.
The newest deal with ESPN saw a 30 percent increase in total revenue to the conference in ’13-14 alone, per Sports Business Daily. Each school as a result is seeing $20 million, which is nowhere near the amounts earned by the SEC and Big Ten, but is in line with competing given its footprint and (lack of) football prestige.
However, the creation of an ACC Network and the additional revenue that may come with it has hit stumbling blocks thanks to financial numbers not working out just right and other hurdles to clear, according to the Associated Press a few months ago.
Competing on the field is one thing, and the ACC is doing that in both football and basketball like it has never done before. What it has failed to do is keep up in the financial arms race. Until the new network deal is done and the checks start rolling in…,
most in the ACC are going to be digging out of a major hole.
All of that will likely come a the expense of so-called “Olympic s[Sports,” sports like swimming and diving, wrestling, track and field, etc.
Has it gotten that bad across the ACC? Perhaps, and until the financial situation is fixed the conference is in danger of being less and less relevant as time goes on.
There is so much book cooking and money shifting going on, so who really knows who is and who is not making any money. In the end, I believe the vast majority of schools have athletic departments that operate in (or very close to) the black before money is moved around. Without going into a long diatribe as to why they do this, I believe that the goal of most athletic departments is to get as close to net zero at the end of the year as possible, for many reasons. Looking at the most recent USA Today study of… Read more »
I agree. How they account for Fat Cats’ largesse on “special projects” gets very murky. UNC has taken “special projects” to new depths with its Great Unpleasantness Legal Defense Fund.
What each school chooses to do with their money is their own decision. Clemson reinvests it’s money into their programs (football and otherwise), infrastructure, and the “experience”, which boosts recruiting, leading to success and thus, more funding. If the University of Not going to Class wants to spend all theirs on Johnny Cochran, then so be it. Their boosters will have to decide if the investment is worth it. The market is stronger that any entity and that hold true to sports as well. If a school cannot make money, they won’t do it for long – it’s just common… Read more »
Your “Death Valley on a Fall Saturday” is among THE Top Five Gamedays in America…. IMO (and my wife’s). You have moved a LONG way from when the “T” in IPTAY was “$10” for sue. Congrats on a VERY FINE Season; hope you can hold on to Dabo.
Thank you. I’m grateful for Dabo and his vision for the program. He is not for everyone, but I can’t think of anybody better for Clemson. I also don’t think he’s going anywhere soon – doesn’t seem to be his nature. But…..you never know.
He does seem “a good fit” for Clemson. How much $$$ does one need to “live the good live in The Upstate”? Really? He’s got his recruiting system in place… now has National cred… fan base no more/less nuttier than any Juggernaut program’s are. Keep replacing Top Assts and keep “being Dabo”.
BL… your “best guess” on which two ACC schools are “profitable” ??
Purely a WAG…. I’d say a short list of possibles would be Clemson, NC State, VaTech, FSU. Because they do sell-out for FB which maxs out that revenue source. NCSU also does not have all that many “Olympic Sports” to drain their coffers. . Miami, Wake, Duke make peanuts in FB revenue. Who knows/cares about the “Zeppos” up north of Mason-Dixon. UNC / UVA have way too many Olym Sports. IMO, Louisville is “a rogue program” likely with multiple sets of books. …. so I’d say the “Two” would be among Clem – NCSU – VaT – FSU.
At the core of “all this” is “having to have luxurious facilities” – a/k/a “recruiting bling” to attract semi-literate 17 y/os who could not care less about the academic offerings of a school…. but do care about fancy locker rooms, IPFs and big Jumbotrons. The “logic” (??) is that without the best athletes to win games fans will not buy tickets or join the booster club or even watch on TV or buy “team gear” et al. …. then coaches DEMAND mega-$$$ for themselves and their staffs. …. NOW schools can’t even jack up game tickets prices because “going to… Read more »
Spending too much on education trying to educate those future NFL stars so they can get those big contracts and then be broke again in a few years. This is what I don’t understand about the big time college athletics. All the big time boys want to have it, but without fat cat donations and contributions not very many, if any, would make money. What you have is mini federal government format of administrators lining their pockets with inflated salaries and athletic dept. equivalents of $300 toilet seats and asking for more, more, more. No public university should be spending… Read more »
All very good points.
What seemed to be obvious from my comment is that there would be no empty seats or aluminum showing on Saturday. The win will help a better bowl placement which might provide more income as well :+))
I’m sure a sell-out was already budgeted for this game. As for “profitable bowl game” !!! Only the top tier games result in a profit otherwise they are $$$ losers after all travel bills are paid. … I think “passing the KFC buckets” would be a better idea. This is not an NC State issue, it is epidemic in Power Five World.
Maybe a less of financial drain bowl game would result with Pack win? Maybe BobK knows of a plan to light up the Jumbotron with a Make it Rain message in case of a win? I have seen that work in other establishments;-)
“Less of a Financial Drain Bowl” – THAT might actually be the name of one these days. Poulan Weedeater probably the best/worst name ever. BK being the ultimate Wuff-insider would know if any such is planned. I think Wuffs destined for a mid-tier bowl regardless of 7-8 Ws. . 4-5 Real Bowls…. then 4-5 silly ones on the far end… with the other 30 all jumbled up in the middle. . No one has pointed out the irony that in UNC’s Break-Out Year…. The Orange Bowl is NOT an option as it is a CFP game. “Someday make it to… Read more »
Don’t know budget details. Missed Council on Athletics meeting last Friday. Know it is close and AF Yow watches closely. Couldn’t have made much money in the great basketball win in Brooklyn tonight, but we’ll make up any losses in a great football win at the Carter on Saturday :+))
BK, you’re off your meds again. How will a W or an L on Saturday “make up $$$ losses” ??? That is disjointed reasoning even by normal BK standards.
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The point here is not whether your BFF Fantastic Frau is World’s Greatest AD; but, rather how “the arms race” is bankrupting college ath depts hell-bent determined to become juggernauts.
The race is on to see which will run out first money or fools.
My money is on the money… PLENTY of Fools.
And all this time i thought those Clemson-Syracuse matchups would have the league rolling in dough.
Go figure ????
According to the official NCSU AD FY 2014 Overview……Google it
Budgeted operating revenue–$63.9 Million
Budgeted operating expenses–$63.5 Million
Best I can do with my phone. BK will have to refine.
You and BK are the closest I have to “NCSU insiders” so whatever you say works for me.
I find myself underwhelmed and underawed and far less than shocked. Whole country’s in debt and so are a lot of people. Why should athletic departments be any different? Now, I know the one has nothing to do factually with the other, but I guess what I mean is that my reaction is basically a sarcastic “well join the club”.
Yep… 🙁 …. maybe all those Syrian refugees will be football fans and buy a lot of t-shirts.
LOL! Tee shirts. Purchased from infidels.
Tuff times demand INNOVATION !!! …. gotta get creative.