UConn athletics self-sufficient

[HuskyNan]

UConn's three major revenue-producing programs continued to turn a profit during the last fiscal year, enough to allow the entire 24-team athletics program to remain self-sufficient.​

Figures released by the school, which include both direct revenue, including tickets sales and TV income, and indirect revenue, such as corporate sponsorships and fundraising, showed the football team spent $19.7 million and took in $21.3 million, clearing $1.6 million.​

The men's basketball team took in $13.8 million and cleared $3.9 million; the women's team took in $10.4 million and cleared $3.8 million.​

UConn says its Athletic Department remains self-sufficient, Courant

 

[DaddyChoc]

sounds good

 

[Santini35]

One thing that always bugged me about the EADA report was people would say that we're making a profit even though our numbers listed student fees as income.

This article makes me a bit more comfortable with that since it points out that Student Rec is under athletics, and so as long as that student fee income is only used towards the Student Rec budget items, I'm okay with it. Hopefully none of the true "athletics programs" are being payed for by students short of ticket costs.

 

[DobbsRover2]

Oh come now, this can't be true. Last April after the Bloomberg Report "proved" that even the top WCBB teams UConn and UTenn were big money losers, and there was a general wringing of hands on the old BY and an acknowledgment for UConn women's basketball that the usual Chicken Littlish doomsday situations was at hand because of whatever--declining attendance, declining interest, ennui, and all the usual bogeywomen trotted out to explain why the glass was all dark.

Now it is told that it is safe to go back to that old world of revenue-credited budgets that show the women's team earning about the standard $1 1/2M - 3 1/2M clams a year? Fans will get whiplash if they are continuously subjected to these two WCBB-deserves-a-piece-of-the-general-revenues-pie and WCBB-doesn't-deserve-a-piece-of-the-general-revenues-pie accounting methods. I suppose both views could be considered valid, but if so, the doomsday prophets should fess up about the two different data sources they use when they scream about the evil trends they are foreseeing. Personally, I do think the women's BB team should get a share of the souvenir and student fees revenue, but on the other hand, maybe it should just be assigned to the football and rugby teams.

 

[EricLA]

i wonder which is true, dobbs. i recall reading a post on here by someone a few months back that linked the accounting report that showed WCBB as a net loser in terms of $. i'm not sure really which to believe but i prefer to go with this one for now...

 

[HuskyNan]

There are two different reports that include program profitability figures - the Equity in Athletics Data Report (EADA) and the school's internal reports. The EADA report doesn't allow for allocation of indirect income, like licensing fees, which was credited to the Athletic Dept as a whole in the EADA. Both reports show the same bottom line figure, roughly a 100K profit for the entire UConn Athletics Dept but the internal report allocates the indirect income to each sport. You know the Golf Team isn't selling a lot of UConn women's t-shirts (no offense to the Husky golfers).

 

[EricLA]

There are two different reports that include program profitability figures - the Equity in Athletics Data Report (EADA) and the school's internal reports. The EADA report doesn't allow for allocation of indirect income, like licensing fees, which was credited to the Athletic Dept as a whole in the EADA. Both reports show the same bottom line figure, roughly a 100K profit for the entire UConn Athletics Dept but the internal report allocates the indirect income to each sport. You know the Golf Team isn't selling a lot of UConn women's t-shirts (no offense to the Husky golfers).

thanks for the clarification Nan. when reports like this come out, especially ones that compare top programs, it's natural for people want to compare and see where we are in terms of the other top teams. but good to know that the women's team is very nearly as profitable as the men's team. pretty impressive i'd say...

 

[jsloanjr]

As an Accountant, you can bury a ton of expenses, bonus's and investments for Rainy day funds........

 

[DobbsRover2]

Yeah, the point is, there is validity to either approach. The dark & crabby view is that the straight cost of running the women's BB probably probably does have a net red number for a total. The bright & cheery side says that those 39-0 shirts we bought have revenues attached to the women's team and that revenue from some of those general student fees should be go into the WCBB purse. At this point, the difference is about $4.3M apparently, -700G on the grumpy side and +3600G on the happy side. How you look at those numbers will be colored by the values you put on certain sports and how you think a university's athletic department accounting should work.

What we shouldn't do is what happened here (or there) last April when the crabby-side Bloomberg Report got trumpeted during the WCBB tournament and some posters were running around saying that UConn WCBB finances were suddenly going down the tubes after having been millions up years before. Trends depend on using the same data, and in 2004 it was 1.6M in the black by roughly the same accounting methods, so as far as I can see, the team seems to now be living in pig heaven.

 

[vtcwbuff]

There are two different reports that include program profitability figures - the Equity in Athletics Data Report (EADA) and the school's internal reports. The EADA report doesn't allow for allocation of indirect income, like licensing fees, which was credited to the Athletic Dept as a whole in the EADA. Both reports show the same bottom line figure, roughly a 100K profit for the entire UConn Athletics Dept but the internal report allocates the indirect income to each sport. You know the Golf Team isn't selling a lot of UConn women's t-shirts (no offense to the Husky golfers).

I think there are at least 3 separate reports. Like a lot of accounting, it appears that the numbers are slippery. The 2010 report that UConn submitted to the NCAA indicated that the expenses for the women's basketball team exceeded the revenues that the team generated. I suspect that the revenue numbers in hte EADA report contain monies that are not included in the NCAA filing.

Last year UConn reported that the women's team brought in $4.93 mil and spent something more than $5.2 mil. It seems odd that the EADA numbers are nearly twice that of what UConn reported to the NCAA. I know that the NCAA report contains a significant amount of funds generated that were not allocated by gender or to a specific sport. Those revenues are from things like sponsorships, royalties, advertizing etc. It was a significant amount and how it is divvied up probably determines the profitability of a specific team. In any case - I believe the Bloomberg report is correct in that the team generated revenues did not cover the expenses.

 

[vtcwbuff]

There are two different reports that include program profitability figures - the Equity in Athletics Data Report (EADA) and the school's internal reports. The EADA report doesn't allow for allocation of indirect income, like licensing fees, which was credited to the Athletic Dept as a whole in the EADA. Both reports show the same bottom line figure, roughly a 100K profit for the entire UConn Athletics Dept but the internal report allocates the indirect income to each sport. You know the Golf Team isn't selling a lot of UConn women's t-shirts (no offense to the Husky golfers).

I think the NCAA report indicated a profit of around 120K for the department.

 

[KnightBridgeAZ]

I think the NCAA report indicated a profit of around 120K for the department.

That, really, is the biggie for UConn.

It is probably true - without looking up any info - for a number of schools with uber successful football programs. It would almost certainly not be true at UConn if it was not for the WBB program's revenue (whether or not those revenues match expenses being, as indicated above, highly dependent on your choice of accounting practices).

It is not the case at many schools, RU included.

Actually, I cannot stress enough - congratulations!!