WILLisms.com: Trivia Tidbit Of The Day: Part 246 -- Title IX & Collegiate Athletics.

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Trivia Tidbit Of The Day: Part 246 -- Title IX & Collegiate Athletics.

Women's Athletics-

Have you ever wondered how profitable or unprofitable college sports programs are? And how Title IX impacts the profitability of collegiate sports programs?

We already know that many schools have eliminated certain traditional male sports programs, such as wrestling, in order to comply with Title IX. Essentially, Title IX requires a school to offer equal opportunities for female and male athletes. Women's sports teams are almost unanimously revenue losers for a school. And we're talking millions of negatory dollars, here. Thus, a school without a huge male cash cow (a football or basketball team, usually) opts to cut both female and male teams. No sports teams, in other words. No soup for you.

Here are the numbers from a few major schools, chosen somewhat at random:

Just a little factoid:
The University of Texas women's basketball program cost the school $1,325,330 last year (that's revenues minus expenses). That's a cost of 63,110 dollars per win.

And that's pretty remarkable, considering that each year, the Texas women's basketball program is one of the more financially successful programs in the nation.

Source:
U.S. Department of Education.

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Posted by Will Franklin · 28 December 2005 09:12 PM

Comments

Except for a couple of colleges shown here, it looks like the men's programs can easily afford to carry the women's teams. After all, this is college sports, and the motive is competition, not profit, right?

Posted by: oino at December 29, 2005 12:49 AM

So, the paying American public is prejudiced against women's sports. That is not the fault or the responsibility of the women's sports. There are also losing men's sports as well. At most schools only football and basketball make net money, as accounted here. Also, there are hidden costs of the big sports, including special course offerings and all of the administrative time necessary to prevent and/or respond to rules violations and scandals.

Posted by: R. Cooper at December 30, 2005 11:46 AM

No soup for you!...

Posted by: Zsa Zsa at December 30, 2005 05:02 PM

oino said; After all, this is college sports, and the motive is competition, not profit, right?

Upon writing the first of many tuiton checks I learned that everything associated with the so-called institutions of higher learning is about profit. Everything.

Besides, if it weren't about profit then the teams would play for no share of the gate receipts, no share of the television revenue and no share of the merchandise sales.

Posted by: Cardinals Nation at January 1, 2006 02:06 PM

No, college sports are completely about money. MY MONEY. When the athletic department at a public educational facility runs a deficit, the money comes from somewhere right? Where does it come from? The university budget. Where does that money come from? Uh, taxpayers?!?!? DING DING DING!

My tax dollars are being used to subsidize women's sports that are consistently losing money in an effort to affect social change. But guess what, the 1950's are long gone and now almost 60% of college students are women. Let me repeat, there are more females attending college than males.

What purpose does Title IV serve anymore? It simply mandates that we as taxpayers fund non-competitive and often non-watchable sports for women that drain athletic budgets and provide scholarships for a demographic that is already proportionately overrepresented within our universities as it is.

Posted by: Justin B at January 2, 2006 03:00 AM

I wonder how much money they're losing on their English and Philosophy Departments....

Posted by: meep at January 2, 2006 12:58 PM

At least they can shut down a major in Art or Humanities or Basketweaving if their finances dictate it. If Federal Law mandated that my business had to lose money just to be "fair", I would not be too pleased. But when it is mandating wasting tax dollars, who can complain right?

Posted by: Justin B at January 2, 2006 10:17 PM