A Detailed Look At How Student Fees, Public Money Affect D-I Sports In Ohio

CLEVELAND, Ohio — Take a full course load at Cleveland State University, and you will pay about $600 a year for intercollegiate sports, even if you do not attend a single game.

Students at the University of Akron paid $16 million in fees to support athletic programs in 2009-10. The school kicked in another $1 million.

At Ohio University, the total from students and other public sources was nearly $19 million. Totals ranged from $10 million to $17 million at Ohio’s other Mid-American Conference schools.

The harsh truth: College sports couldn’t exist as they do at just about every public university in Ohio without money from students, taxpayers or other non-athletic school sources. The exception: Ohio State. (See related story about Ohio State University.)

For the others, ticket sales, TV revenue and souvenirs don’t come close to covering the bills. So it’s left to thousands of students who don’t play sports to bridge the gap.

But as students and parents face college bills increasing faster than inflation, and as the state’s share of the higher education costs have been shrinking, does this investment in sports make sense?

“Athletics play an important role, but it has to be kept in the context of the university’s core mission, which is education,” said Amy Perko, executive director of the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics. The commission, a watchdog of sorts for college sports, counts among its members several university presidents.

Outside of Ohio State, Ohio’s 10 public universities spent $128 million in student fees and other public support — nearly $700 for each student — to support intercollegiate athletics in 2009-10, The Plain Dealer found in a review of the latest financial filings to the NCAA. (The state’s two Division I private schools — Xavier and Dayton — declined to share their reports with The Plain Dealer.)

College administrators across the state contend the investment enhances student life, connects to alumni and serves as a marketing tool. Applications increase, they say, after success on the field.

“Having a competitive athletic program is a marker that you have life outside the classroom,” said Greg Hand, a spokesman for the University of Cincinnati. “I am sure that without a nationally known intercollegiate program, this institution would have a very different reputation. It is a very direct way to communicate that you are a big-league institution.”

Students interviewed during Kent State’s move-in day this summer echoed that sentiment.

“Sports are such a big part of college,” said freshman Andy Brooks of Amherst. “It’s a big reason why I came here.”

Increasing costs

Others wonder whether the level of spending is worth it, or if it can be maintained.

The Knight Commission on Oct. 24 will report that from 2005 to ’09, spending per athlete nationally at the 100-plus big-time programs increased 50 percent — more than double the increase per student on academics.

Cincinnati’s spending went up dramatically after it joined the Big East Conference a few years ago.

Even after the Cincinnati athletic department received $13.5 million in reported direct institutional support in 2009-10, the program operated $2.6 million in the red, increasing six straight years of deficit spending to a total of $32.8 million.

Cincinnati, which averaged 35,067 fans for home football games and 7,344 for home men’s basketball games last year, cannot generate money like the big powers of college sports.

At Ohio University, where the subsidy covered 82 percent of the athletic budget in 2009-10 — mostly through general student fees — the faculty senate took a formal stand last year. It passed a resolution calling the current funding “incompatible with the academic mission of higher education.”

“The typical Ohio University student is paying approximately $750 a year to subsidize the athletic program,” said English professor Joseph McLaughlin, chairman of OU’s faculty senate.

“Over four years, without getting into inflation, we’re talking about $3,000. … Yet their attendance [at games] is low.”

Student attendance at OU averaged 5,300 for football and 1,100 for basketball (excluding games during winter break) last year, up about 30 percent for each sport.

Admission to events is free for the 19,000 full-time students at the Athens campus.

To cut costs, OU in 2007 eliminated men’s indoor and outdoor track, men’s swimming and diving, and women’s lacrosse. Otherwise, the school’s entire athletic program would be at risk, said the athletic director at the time.

OU President Roderick McDavis said he hopes to rely more on donations and ticket sales to cover the increasing costs. Yet, McDavis said intercollegiate sports are important.

 

McDavis said the primary reasons students choose OU are for the academics, the campus beauty and because it has a Division I sports program.

McLaughlin, however, questions what is being spent on sports at a time when many senior faculty positions are being eliminated.

“I don’t understand why the taxpayers, the legislators and the governor believe the state can subsidize as many Division I programs as Ohio has,” McLaughlin said.

Ohio, in fact, leads the nation with eight public schools competing at the highest NCAA level.

Jim Petro, the governor-appointed chancellor of higher education for the state, said through a spokeswoman that the schools decide how to spend their money. Requests to interview Petro were declined.

Among Ohio’s six Mid-American Conference schools, student fees or college general funds covered nearly 70 percent of the athletic budgets on average in 2009-10, the last year for which the reports are available.

At CSU, of the Horizon League, student fees or general funds totaled 84 percent, highest in the state. That’s typical of a Division I program nationally that does not field a football team. About $4 of every $5 spent on CSU sports was covered by student fees.

CSU Athletic Director John Parry said competing at the Division I level carries a higher cost than Division II or III, but also produces a higher profile for the university. Parry, formerly the AD at Brown and Butler universities, believes success leads to more student applications.

Making ends meet

Yet, as CSU coped with an $8 million state budget cut, it decided this past spring to eliminate baseball at a savings of about $500,000 a year, and dismiss at least for now the thought of adding a football team.

Cutting down to just a few athletic teams is not an option. NCAA rules — drawn up by university presidents — mandate participation in at least 14 sports for Division I members (16 for those with top-division football teams), plus a schedule heavy with other Division I opponents.

Kent State Athletic Director Joel Nielsen said he spends more than half his time on fundraising, knowing that he cannot turn to the university for more money to pay higher coaching salaries and expenses.

Benefactors are increasingly essential across college sports.

Bowling Green’s new Stroh Center ($7.7 million from Kerm and Mary Lu Stroh) includes the Frack Court ($2 million from Bill Frack).

“Without people making the donations, the taxpayers would howl if they had to pay for it,” said Frack, a big fan from Findlay.

Despite the donations, however, a $60 per semester student fee has been added beginning this fall to help pay for the building. Students in 2009 approved the fee, though a minority voted.

Frack, 76, recently pledged another $10 million from his future estate for recruiting, coaching salaries and money to lure high-profile teams to play games at BG, among other things.

“When I started going, finances and recruiting didn’t seem to be a problem. . . . That has changed,” Frack said. “Basketball was really down as far as financial support. I thought, ’I can do something about that.’ “

 

Breaking point?

Many university presidents are worried about funding sports, according to a survey of 95 presidents from colleges with major football programs. Nearly half said they were concerned about the portion of institutional resources being used on sports, and about the same number said they feared they would have to cut some sports, the Knight Commission reported last year.

Kent State President Lester Lefton believes intercollegiate sports are an important part of campus, but he said the spending trend cannot continue, especially when it comes to coaching salaries and facilities.

Lefton said Kent has tried to control costs by renovating facilities instead of building new. As for coaching salaries, Kent is on the low end of the MAC, though the salaries are increasing there as well.

Kent’s athletic budget in 2009-10 was nearly $20 million, nearly $16 million of which was paid for by student fees or general school funds.

“We get a lot of value for our $19.5 million,” Lefton said, noting that Kent repeatedly has been recognized as the MAC’s best overall sports program. “We’re winning.”

Asked for a comparison on the academic side, Lefton said Kent’s College of Architecture with about 300 students has a budget of close to $20 million.

Academics may be the mission, but it is because of sports that Division I schools see their names scroll across television screens with score updates.

“It resonates with alumni. It resonates with prospective students,” CSU’s Parry said. “You can have an incredible chemistry department, but unless they cure cancer or something, it doesn’t generate the publicity that a winning sports program does.”