So wait… you’re telling me that the Athletic Department gets more money than Comparative Literature studies? Get Out!
Yeah, Brian Meehan does wade through a few obvious points, but his recent column is definitely must read. Key quotes:
Oregon no longer is a state-funded university. This year, the state’s share of the $404.9 million budget has dipped to 13 percent, down from 31 percent in 1990. Tuition, which generates 31 percent of the budget, next year is proposed to increase 12 percent to $5,484 for in-state students.
Oregon has maintained its financial health largely through landing research grants and contracts, which now generate 26 percent of its budget. The athletic department is part of this trend. The $37 million athletic budget is self-sustaining and football largely supports most of the other sports.
Hat nodding thing: Oregon Sports Fan
Thanks for the hat tip, Pete. But what the readers don’t know is that you were guesting on OSF this weekend, and so you were actually tipping your own hat at your own posting, without saying so.
Dishonestly two-faced? Humbly deferential? You be the judge!
P.S. Frohnmayer was out here in DC last week, and made those points about how much extra funding was coming in from other sources. Wonder if they just released these numbers or what…
Yeah… you’re right. That is sort of shameless. But I really wanted to give a shout out to the following: God– you da’ man, keep doing ya’ thing, all praise is due, Kwame– keep ya’ head up, you second to NONE in my book playa, ya’ heard!, Spider– five more months and you back on the streets, we going party like it’s your birthday, Erik, Sasha, Rachel, Calliph, Carlos, Amy, Bubu, Layla and Sam– Daddy will be home soon. Got to get that $$$, I’ m out…
Hmmm, I don’t know. I think the UO football program will actually be self-sustaining when it stops taking student fees for student seats. Isn’t that what is really used to pay for the other sports? (women’s sports at least)
No, that’s incorrect. The ~$2 million in incidental fees for student seats at games (all games and other UO sporting events, not just football) is the only part of the AD’s entire budget that comes from the UO, and the AD has a budget of about $28 million. Women’s sports [and all the rest] are being subsidized by the profitable endevours like football and basketball, not to mention private donations, the required donation for season ticket holding, etc. Meaning that the students only pay about 10% of the AD’s budget. So, you see, the Athletic Department is self-sustaining. The ticket subsidy does mean that we don’t have to buy tickets on the market where they’d be more expensive. Now, one can debate the ethics of not just donating the tickets to students and writing off the loss, but the AD is run like a for-profit business and that’s probably better for students/higher-ed all around.
Or, in the spirit of fee reduction, one could suggest that the ticket subsidy not be taken from the incidental fee.
Yes, Olly, and further, in the spirit of ensuring that at least a sizable minority of the crowd pays attention to the game, the cost of student tickets could be passed on to other ticket buyers, who have already proven themselves willing to pay whatever they’re asked.
Seems workable to me, that’s still essentially asking the AD to write off the cost of student tickets, though…but, given the inelastic nature of the market, that seems reasonable. I’m sure the effects on AD behavior, however, would be fairly ambiguous.