The University of Idaho athletic department has undeniably been in rough shape recently. The football program became the first ever to reclassify out of the FBS. That is normally enough to throw thousands of students and alumni into frenzy for years, but now the more recent debacle of possibly cutting three sports entirely upped the pressure.
The reality is that this is just evidence of the state’s policies working properly. The university and the athletic department are in a perfectly fine place comparably, despite the current state of affairs.
As the Idaho State Board of Education came together in Moscow two weeks ago, all the focus was on the health of the University of Idaho’s athletics budget. The athletic department recorded just under a million dollar deficit for the second straight fiscal year and section V.X.d of the SBOE’s governing policies and procedures requires that schools eliminate their deficits within two years.
The board voted to avoid the shuttering of the women’s soccer, women’s swim and dive and men’s golf teams. The university will now get an additional three years to rectify the deficit, and the plan is to allocate extra funding for women’s triathlon, men’s swim and dive and rifle teams that are intended to run at low cost and recoup the deficit caused by the rest of the department.
At first glance, this all seems like Idaho’s athletic department is in remarkably dire straits that required formal mediation between the university and the board to ensure its survival. However, when compared to the state of affairs in athletic departments across the country, Idaho’s financial struggles are actually quite manageable.
According to a 2015 NCAA report, only 20 of the 129 Football Bowl Subdivision schools brought in more revenue than they spent. In the case of the 109 other schools, the universities had to cover the deficits caused by their athletic departments. Idaho’s deficit is manageable and instead of attacking the state and university administration for dealing with it, we should view their behavior as exemplary.
Take for example Idaho’s neighbors to the west at Washington State University. Former Athletic Director Bill Moos and former president Elson Floyd made the decision to invest heavily in football and improve on the school’s reputation as a cellar dweller.
While coach Mike Leach and the Cougars have progressed from a 12-25 record in Leach’s first three seasons to 26-13 in the past three years, the athletic department’s budget has gone in the opposite direction.
WSU’s athletic department owes the university $51.5 million after operating at a deficit for six straight years and their 2016 deficit of $12.9 million was the second largest of any of the more than 200 public schools with Division I sports.
Only Cal ran a bigger athletic deficit, coming in at $21.7 million in the red. Washington State isn’t done spending either, with a $65 million premium seating renovation in progress at Martin Stadium and a projected $28 million indoor facility in the works. According to one Bloomberg report, no fewer than 13 athletic departments had at least $150 million in long-term debt as of 2014.
These expenditures are orders of magnitude greater than what Idaho is dealing with and the backlash they are facing is similarly greater than what Idaho is facing for much more reasonable measures. Idaho certainly could have been another school ready to make a $50 million blind investment in a football program, but instead the school is taking a comparably reasonable approach to the current financial situation.
For these other public schools, spending big on big-ticket sports means cuts have to be made elsewhere. WSU cut its Performing Arts program, which cost $1.6 million over seven years and was deemed expendable.
Eastern Michigan University is facing a similar predicament as Idaho, with an underperforming football team that could made a dent in the school’s deficit by moving down from the FBS. Instead, the school cut four less popular sports to address a $4.5-5.5 million deficit and left the football team untouched.
“EMU administrators have cut back on course offerings, laid off staff, left positions unfilled, and outsourced essential student services. In this environment, it’s not sustainable for EMU to spend more than $20 million a year from its own funds to subsidize football and other NCAA Division I sports teams,” said EMU faculty union president Judith Kullberg to the Detroit Free Press.
The policies the Idaho SBOE has in place have thus far prevented drastic situations like those unfolding at Washington State, Eastern Michigan and in more than 100 programs across the country.
Idaho’s SBOE maintains uncommon limits on athletic department funding that causes our schools to refrain from gambling on the hope that a souped up football or basketball program could gain national acclaim and eventual profitability. Even when those few programs in good standing turn a profit, the schools generated a median of $6 million in revenue according to the same 2015 NCAA report and down from $8 million median income from the year before.
The problems don’t just occur in Division I schools. Only an hour and a half away at Eastern Washington, the Eagles currently run a $5.8 million deficit without any real way out. EWU’s football team can only schedule four home games for the upcoming schedule due to not having enough funds to support a full slate of home games.
Large, Pac-12 schools are not safe from athletic deficits despite the fact many likely assume they are the money-making programs. According to the Daily Evergreen, WSU’s athletic department is responsible for halving the university’s central reserves from $205 million in 2013 to just over $100 million in 2018.
The Idaho athletic department accomplishes its purpose of providing entertainment for students and alumni while affording student athletes an education at relatively little cost to the university and by extension, the residents of the state and university.
While it may seem as if our athletic department may be crumbling under financial burden and pressure to remain relevant, remember that gilded success almost always comes at a much greater cost.
Jonah Baker can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @jonahpbaker
Ron Reynolds
One thing for sure, we don't have to worry about that "pressure to remain relevant". The idea that athletics is simply entertainment for students and alumni is true. Problem is there are bad movies and good movies. People don't go to the bad movies.
Tom Morris
Finally! Yes! Well written and the perspective that should be out there for all to read!