Keep up with the My idea is unpopular: drop NCAA scholarships for non-revenue sports. Stats like this from the Wall St. journal support my overhaul plan to make scholarships ONLY academic related unless a sport generates revenue for the university. Just because someone can throw a slider or hit a field hockey ball doesn't mean they should be admitted and paid by a college over someone who has put academics first.
Here's an idea: Schools could have a 5 year window to turn a profit and upon doing so, awarded 1 scholarship per X amount of dollars generated by such sport. Sports like basketball have shown they can make money for the majority for the majority of schools. So in the end, you'd have virtually all D1 basketball schools awarding scholarships and a good number of football schools. A number of hockey schools would also have profitable programs, same with baseball (in the south) and perhaps even a few lacrosse schools. For women's sports, only a couple basketball programs actually make money though.
From the Wall St. Journal:
"In a list examining the athletic departments of 119 Division I schools, 15 of the 17 men's sports the NCAA examined lost money. Baseball and track and field were the most costly, and even fencing had a median loss of $114,000. Only basketball and football were profitable, but they don't bring in enough cash to offset the money-draining volleyball and wrestling teams of the world. The combined annual profit for football and basketball (using median figures) was about $2.5 million. But if you take the median profits of every sport the NCAA documented, the typical athletic program lost almost $4 million. (And that doesn't include women's sports--all 19 the NCAA examined lost money, including basketball.) Baseball teams are a particularly substantial financial drain largely because these programs offer nearly as many scholarships as basketball and travel as much as football teams."
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Comments 3 comments
If a school cannot make money by giving scholarships in a certain sport, one of two things should happen. The school should first drop the sport. If that does not work, then the school should drop to Division III. Division I should not have to coddle those schools that are out of touch with reality anymore.
Why not examine the opposite possibility of dropping non-revenue producing sports? Spin off the profitable sports. They could pay a nominal licensing fee for the use of the school’s name and facilities including the stadium, parking, and housing. The now independent teams would handle all labor issues including recruiting, salaries, and feeding for players, coaches, and trainers. The teams could negotiate their own television contracts, hire as many coaches and trainers as they desire, and maintain a year round training and playing schedule. Finally, the teams could arrange themselves in some sort of European soccer style table where weak teams are dropped a division and stronger teams are promoted to face tougher competition. The teams would be free to maintain labor limits based on age and prior experience.
The universities could fund remaining athletic endeavors from the licensing fee as well as having access to the facilities now rented by the spun off, independent entities. However, the independent entities maintain preferred tenet status. Without football and men’s basketball to subsidize the athletics budget, Division I and II schools would have to cut recruiting and coaching salaries. Scholarships would be reduced if not eliminated.
Schools could selectively choose remaining sports to focus on. For example, Syracuse could continue to offer lacrosse scholarships. Michigan could decide to offer free education to men’s hockey players. Cornell could have the resources to offer scholarships for both sports.
The vast majority of sports though would be as competitive as Division III. Thus, the division format could be eliminated except for divisions with sufficient scholarship programs such as baseball, lacrosse, or ice hockey.
It's a good idea, Bevo. Just such a longshot like my idea.
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