This was in the Chronicle of Higher Ed last week (just getting around to browsing the web site now), “Sports Budgets Outpace University Spending Over All, Report Finds.” Given the sports talk we’ve had here over the years, I thought some might think it’s interesting. Here are the opening paragraphs:
A new study commissioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association confirms what many in college sports already know: The nation’s largest athletics departments continue to pour ever more money into their programs each year, and the pressure to keep up is considerable.
But the study, presented on Thursday to the presidents and chancellors who sit on the NCAA’s Division I Board of Directors, also contains a few surprises—some of which explain the penchant for lavish spending, and some of which call it into question. It is possible for some athletics departments to spend their way to better win-loss records in football and basketball, the report found. But devoting more money to coaches’ salaries, it also noted, has no effect on a team’s success.
Though apparently, there is some relationship between the amount of money an entire athletic department spends and a team’s success. Interesting stuff.
