21st Century Scholar

by J. Douglas Toma The Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics released last week the results of a survey of university presidents.  They expressed concern over significantly increasing costs.  The median operating budget among the 120 FBS institutions (Division I-A) athletics programs increased by 46 percent from 2004 to 2008, to $41 million.  The continuing divide [...]

by J. Douglas Toma The divide between elite football programs and those with more modest resources may is most pronounced during football bowl season each December and January.  There is token access for deserving teams from smaller conferences to an invitation to one of the five BCS bowls – the Fiesta, Orange, Rose, Sugar, and [...]

by J. Douglas Toma Why does Eastern Michigan University subsidize nearly its entire $20 million athletics budget?  There has to be more appropriate purposes for these funds within a higher education institution, right?  There is a student development rationale for sports such as volleyball and swimming, but hardly for the football and men’s basketball at [...]

by J. Douglas Toma The University of Georgia, where I work, had its state budget of about $500 million reduced by ten percent last fiscal year.  An eight percent cut announced in August for this year is comprised primarily of six mandatory unpaid days for each UGA employee – about a two percent pay decrease.  [...]

by J. Douglas Toma Beginning this Fall, the Southeastern Conference (SEC) is receiving $55 million from CBS and $150 million annually from ESPN-ABC through broadcast rights contracts.  Splitting these revenues among the 12 athletics programs in the conference accounts for about $17 million of their respective budgets.  In contrast to the SEC, the Mountain West [...]

by J. Douglas Toma University of Georgia I have been interested lately in where we might draw lines in grouping U.S. universities and colleges of various types, having similar thoughts about athletics programs. The University of Michigan, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and the University of Wyoming would all label themselves – and be classified, as [...]