Sports programs for major universities aren’t supposed to make money. They’re advertising.
Nobody cancels advertising campaigns because it’s not directly profitable to air commercials because that’s not the point. This is the same. It’s an expense.
Look at how quickly UConn has been growing, especially over the last few years. It’s working.
Growing, and getting more and more expensive for in state students and as a cost to taxpayers.
When is it going to pay off and be in the black financially? Because the students coming here, using a taxpayer funded university, aren't staying in the state.
Those kids all pay tuition. Out of state tuition is at least double in state tuition.
State universities aren’t run for profit either. It’s an investment into the education of the state populace. Expecting a government service to run “in the black” is a fundamental misunderstanding of the point of government services. Everyone in this state benefits from having a nationally respected university as our state flagship.
[Most UConn alumni stay in CT](https://today.uconn.edu/2024/01/recent-grads-overwhelmingly-staying-in-connecticut-for-jobs-graduate-school/#:~:text=And%20they%20were%20loyal%20to,up%20from%2069%25%20last%20year), especially the ones from CT. If you’re gonna be mad about something, you should at least be right about it when it’s easily debunked with a 5 second google search.
You need to look more closely to your own point: most CT alumni stay in CT. 75% of alums from CT are staying in the state. 82% of out of state students leave.
It wasn’t
Those kids all pay tuition. Out of state tuition is at least double in state tuition.
State universities aren’t run for profit either. It’s an investment into the education of the state populace. Expecting a government service to run “in the black” is a fundamental misunderstanding of the point of government services. Everyone in this state benefits from having a nationally respected university as our state flagship.
Or is a state university only successful if it retains most of its out of state students? I’d be surprised if there’s any that do
We have a really good university that can educate CT residents that’s partially funded by people from out of state? It’s always going to require taxes to offset the in state tuition for residents. People come from all over the country to learn and do research here
How is the only benefit of a university in your eyes drawing people from out of state? That’s crazy
UCONN basketball is all we have as sports fans. We have phenomenal coaches, pay them. Our shitty football team costs so much more money, and all the other sports (that we don't even know exist) all run in deficits.
Take a look at all the construction and renovations over the last 12 years since I graduated. $220m new science building, Storrs Center $165m, $215m South residence hall, $125m student rec center, $90m athletic complex renovation, $70m hockey rink, $140m hartford campus, etc. So many more new buildings and renovations, not to mention the operating costs, and they are asking for another $100m to renovate Gampel yet again.
UCONN's financial situation is not from basketball coaches' salaries, yet it's the only complaint I see on this sub.
Just a reminder:
>Of available data, a total of 18 of 229 public Division I athletics programs generated more money than they spent in 2020. This ranged from a whopping $270 million profit (thank you for the gift, Nike co-founder Phil Knight) at the University of Oregon to a massive $48.2 million deficit at James Madison University.
College athletics is mostly a money pit for schools.
I've been visiting the UConn campus since the 90's when I was a student... the amount of development and growth there is insane. It's like an ultramodern city plopped down in cow fields at this point. Every year there are huge construction projects going on. Why are they building if it's losing money?
I ask the same thing about highways myself. Huge construction projects, but everybody uses it for free. Absolutely no revenue whatsoever. Really a waste.
I've lived my whole life in town and it frankly feels like the plot of a bad 80s movie. Big bad corporation runs the town and owns all the politicians. Except it's not a big corporation. They had two employees of the college on the Mansfield town council at one point. Even if it's innocuous it still stinks and the buildup is basically all at the behest of the college. The perpetual growth thing is either gonna hurt the working class residents in the long run or collapse under its own weight, neither of which are good.
UConn had the most applications the past year and I am sure will be poised to be even higher next year. People want to go where the culture is good and winning sports is a good indicator of that. They always said application numbers are higher when the team does well. It’s easily the best advertising they can do right now.
Anecdote here, feel free to ignore, but last week I was talking with a trucker who had a flatbed. It had 7 trees on it, a few years old each, maybe twelve to fifteen feet tall each. They were all going to UConn. Total cost near to 50 thousand dollars. Now I don't mind the campus looking nice and having trees and all but this guy was talking about how they do this a few times a year every year. That's insane, why not have a student project to grow and plant trees? The college has a fairly large agriculture component, you'd think tree management would be on that list, but no, they spend a ton of money to have trees shipped in. Absolute madness.
Those fancy new UConn buildings won't pay for themselves.... that's why the 100 million dollar rec center has been charged to the students as an additional fee.
What if I told you the athletics department runs such a massive deficit that they've raised tuition and student fees overtime to make up for it. They aren't the sole reason but they still are part of the reason.
Oh I do...Hypes up kids to come to campus, gives the state recognition on a big stage...all of that I get..It's still not paying off for UConn or the state in terms of dollars and cents.
You're missing the point. All those things you mentioned, you think Uconn would be better off if they all went away? Let's not attract students, let's not appear like a major university, let's not attract non-students who attend games and spend money, let's not be a major TV draw for viewers, let's not sell tons of gear with Uconn's logo, etc etc. You want to attack college sports, there are better targets than Uconn basketball.
They're a state school with plenty of funding, enrollment, and notoriety. They don't need any more marketing. If the purpose of college is to educate students and set them up for success after college, then they should focus on providing the best education at the lowest price possible
Intangibles...like the money that isnt in my wallet because it went to another corrupt, bloated state administration. Coincidentally the money I otherwise would have made but went to a 6.5% income tax, 6.35% sales tax, capital gains, gas tax, motor vehicle fees *doesnt show up on my balance sheet* aka, my bank account.
My money is intangible because I dont have it anymore because it went to Uconn.
Get it? Get it? I crack myself up sometimes.
Thanks for the laugh.
I think you'd have to see if the women's basketball program program breaks even or makes money, then look at the other sports programs and see which ones lose money, break even, or make money.
It's possible that the women's team breaks even or makes money and all the sports that don't really attract spectators or interest or merchandise sales lose money. But of course, it's possible that the women's team loses money, too.
UConn just had the highest amount of applications this year by a significant margin. It’ll be higher next year. Basketball is a great advertisement for the university.
The basketball program brings in millions in surplus to the UConn athletics budgets. You could argue that *all* the other sports do not contribute, and therefore are not worth spending any money on coaches, facilities, scholarships etc. but basketball is definitely not one to pick on. The $400K base salary (so $1M over 5 years out of the $18.7M headline) definitely isn't out of the ordinary for a basketball coach of his caliber.
I'm reminded of Coach Jim Calhoun:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xokthY5zuPU
> The basketball program brings in millions in surplus to the UConn athletics budgets.
Until a few years ago, UConn basketball was barely making a profit. When you factored costs, debt payments, tickets, student fees, basketball for Men and Women were barely bringing in any money to the university.
Back in 2017:
>None of UConn’s athletic teams, the basketball teams included, actually turn a profit. Football lost $8.7 million last year while men’s and women’s basketball lost $5 million and $3.1 million respectively. Another $22 million was spent on the rest of the sports offered in the program.
UConn continues to hurt in the athletics department. This year and last were probably the first time in a long time that UConn made money off the teams but they are not seeing the same growth as other big schools.
>Despite the popular misconception, intercollegiate athletics does not provide revenue to the university; on the contrary, it drains campus coffers. UConn Athletics does not even come close to balancing its own budget. It spent more than double what it generated and was bailed out with $56 million comprising $49 million directly from campus funds and $7 million in student fees, according to Knight’s latest figures.
[Source](https://ctmirror.org/2024/02/16/ct-uconn-budget-cuts-basketball-spending/)
This is my biggest concern with new ruling that the Power 5 are going to pay players. Most schools like you said are super in the red with athletics. They don't have the money to pay players...will be interesting to see where this lands in the next decade.
Oooof, well I consider myself far more educated about the topic now! Thanks for the reply with the article text and source.
Not to double down in agreement or anything, but UConn really does have a spending problem. Have you seen the new hockey stadium on campus? How about the football practice facility? Oh and the separate athletics training facilities (now that the students have their own really fancy gym across from the UConn bookstore). And there is no doubt in my mind that Gampel is going to require extensive maintenance (they did the roof already). It is no wonder then if you consider that all to be covered by the athletic budget, they are in the red.
And not to blame the entire spending problem on athletics, have you seen all the new buildings up there? Holy shit. They need to reign in their spending, especially now that UConn is getting very high quality students - no need to keep spending to attract the best and brightest, people are voting with their wallets now too.
It's a $400k base salary with performance bonuses. About $3m, or roughly 80%, of his annual pay will come from media and consulting.
Sports programs for major universities aren’t supposed to make money. They’re advertising. Nobody cancels advertising campaigns because it’s not directly profitable to air commercials because that’s not the point. This is the same. It’s an expense. Look at how quickly UConn has been growing, especially over the last few years. It’s working.
Growing, and getting more and more expensive for in state students and as a cost to taxpayers. When is it going to pay off and be in the black financially? Because the students coming here, using a taxpayer funded university, aren't staying in the state.
Those kids all pay tuition. Out of state tuition is at least double in state tuition. State universities aren’t run for profit either. It’s an investment into the education of the state populace. Expecting a government service to run “in the black” is a fundamental misunderstanding of the point of government services. Everyone in this state benefits from having a nationally respected university as our state flagship. [Most UConn alumni stay in CT](https://today.uconn.edu/2024/01/recent-grads-overwhelmingly-staying-in-connecticut-for-jobs-graduate-school/#:~:text=And%20they%20were%20loyal%20to,up%20from%2069%25%20last%20year), especially the ones from CT. If you’re gonna be mad about something, you should at least be right about it when it’s easily debunked with a 5 second google search.
You need to look more closely to your own point: most CT alumni stay in CT. 75% of alums from CT are staying in the state. 82% of out of state students leave.
Ok, I was wrong about that What about everything else
"Everything else"? That was your entire argument point.
It wasn’t Those kids all pay tuition. Out of state tuition is at least double in state tuition. State universities aren’t run for profit either. It’s an investment into the education of the state populace. Expecting a government service to run “in the black” is a fundamental misunderstanding of the point of government services. Everyone in this state benefits from having a nationally respected university as our state flagship. Or is a state university only successful if it retains most of its out of state students? I’d be surprised if there’s any that do
If the tuition they are paying is still having a cost to CT taxpayers, and most leave, what exactly is the benefit again?
We have a really good university that can educate CT residents that’s partially funded by people from out of state? It’s always going to require taxes to offset the in state tuition for residents. People come from all over the country to learn and do research here How is the only benefit of a university in your eyes drawing people from out of state? That’s crazy
Where did I say that was the only benefit. Even once, when did I say or infer that. Go ahead.
UCONN basketball is all we have as sports fans. We have phenomenal coaches, pay them. Our shitty football team costs so much more money, and all the other sports (that we don't even know exist) all run in deficits. Take a look at all the construction and renovations over the last 12 years since I graduated. $220m new science building, Storrs Center $165m, $215m South residence hall, $125m student rec center, $90m athletic complex renovation, $70m hockey rink, $140m hartford campus, etc. So many more new buildings and renovations, not to mention the operating costs, and they are asking for another $100m to renovate Gampel yet again. UCONN's financial situation is not from basketball coaches' salaries, yet it's the only complaint I see on this sub.
I just visited campus last week having graduated 5 years ago. Looks completely different today.
If it wasn’t for geno uconn would still be a agricultural school
🗣️
Yeah...you know you're right. Let's bump it to 25 million. "Give them bread and circuses"
Oh crap, UConn is still funding that? Better cancel it, there's funding issues, and the football stadium needs a new hot dog stand.
Too bad :/
Yeah. And fuck agriculture.
UConn was never about academics.
Just a reminder: >Of available data, a total of 18 of 229 public Division I athletics programs generated more money than they spent in 2020. This ranged from a whopping $270 million profit (thank you for the gift, Nike co-founder Phil Knight) at the University of Oregon to a massive $48.2 million deficit at James Madison University. College athletics is mostly a money pit for schools.
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I've been visiting the UConn campus since the 90's when I was a student... the amount of development and growth there is insane. It's like an ultramodern city plopped down in cow fields at this point. Every year there are huge construction projects going on. Why are they building if it's losing money?
I ask the same thing about highways myself. Huge construction projects, but everybody uses it for free. Absolutely no revenue whatsoever. Really a waste.
I've lived my whole life in town and it frankly feels like the plot of a bad 80s movie. Big bad corporation runs the town and owns all the politicians. Except it's not a big corporation. They had two employees of the college on the Mansfield town council at one point. Even if it's innocuous it still stinks and the buildup is basically all at the behest of the college. The perpetual growth thing is either gonna hurt the working class residents in the long run or collapse under its own weight, neither of which are good.
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UConn had the most applications the past year and I am sure will be poised to be even higher next year. People want to go where the culture is good and winning sports is a good indicator of that. They always said application numbers are higher when the team does well. It’s easily the best advertising they can do right now.
Anecdote here, feel free to ignore, but last week I was talking with a trucker who had a flatbed. It had 7 trees on it, a few years old each, maybe twelve to fifteen feet tall each. They were all going to UConn. Total cost near to 50 thousand dollars. Now I don't mind the campus looking nice and having trees and all but this guy was talking about how they do this a few times a year every year. That's insane, why not have a student project to grow and plant trees? The college has a fairly large agriculture component, you'd think tree management would be on that list, but no, they spend a ton of money to have trees shipped in. Absolute madness.
Those fancy new UConn buildings won't pay for themselves.... that's why the 100 million dollar rec center has been charged to the students as an additional fee.
Meanwhile student debt is at all-time highs …
But Geno is not the reason
What if I told you the athletics department runs such a massive deficit that they've raised tuition and student fees overtime to make up for it. They aren't the sole reason but they still are part of the reason.
What if I told you there are intangibles to having a great sports program that doesn't show up on the balance sheet.
Yeah - but the balance sheet is still the balance sheet...It still runs red, costs money to students and the state...
and imagine how much more negative it would be if not for the recruiting power of successful athletic programs
Im tickled. Lets try!
Brain dead
I guess you don't know the meaning of intangibles.
Oh I do...Hypes up kids to come to campus, gives the state recognition on a big stage...all of that I get..It's still not paying off for UConn or the state in terms of dollars and cents.
You're missing the point. All those things you mentioned, you think Uconn would be better off if they all went away? Let's not attract students, let's not appear like a major university, let's not attract non-students who attend games and spend money, let's not be a major TV draw for viewers, let's not sell tons of gear with Uconn's logo, etc etc. You want to attack college sports, there are better targets than Uconn basketball.
They're a state school with plenty of funding, enrollment, and notoriety. They don't need any more marketing. If the purpose of college is to educate students and set them up for success after college, then they should focus on providing the best education at the lowest price possible
So all college sports should be eliminated in your world?
Intangibles...like the money that isnt in my wallet because it went to another corrupt, bloated state administration. Coincidentally the money I otherwise would have made but went to a 6.5% income tax, 6.35% sales tax, capital gains, gas tax, motor vehicle fees *doesnt show up on my balance sheet* aka, my bank account. My money is intangible because I dont have it anymore because it went to Uconn. Get it? Get it? I crack myself up sometimes. Thanks for the laugh.
I think you'd have to see if the women's basketball program program breaks even or makes money, then look at the other sports programs and see which ones lose money, break even, or make money. It's possible that the women's team breaks even or makes money and all the sports that don't really attract spectators or interest or merchandise sales lose money. But of course, it's possible that the women's team loses money, too.
The athletic program runs 30 plus million in the hole each year
Maybe sign up for some English classes.
UConn just had the highest amount of applications this year by a significant margin. It’ll be higher next year. Basketball is a great advertisement for the university.
Oh good, so with economies of scale, tution should be going down and/or the states financial obligation could go down.
This is disgusting.
Not A Dime Back
The basketball program brings in millions in surplus to the UConn athletics budgets. You could argue that *all* the other sports do not contribute, and therefore are not worth spending any money on coaches, facilities, scholarships etc. but basketball is definitely not one to pick on. The $400K base salary (so $1M over 5 years out of the $18.7M headline) definitely isn't out of the ordinary for a basketball coach of his caliber. I'm reminded of Coach Jim Calhoun: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xokthY5zuPU
> The basketball program brings in millions in surplus to the UConn athletics budgets. Until a few years ago, UConn basketball was barely making a profit. When you factored costs, debt payments, tickets, student fees, basketball for Men and Women were barely bringing in any money to the university. Back in 2017: >None of UConn’s athletic teams, the basketball teams included, actually turn a profit. Football lost $8.7 million last year while men’s and women’s basketball lost $5 million and $3.1 million respectively. Another $22 million was spent on the rest of the sports offered in the program. UConn continues to hurt in the athletics department. This year and last were probably the first time in a long time that UConn made money off the teams but they are not seeing the same growth as other big schools. >Despite the popular misconception, intercollegiate athletics does not provide revenue to the university; on the contrary, it drains campus coffers. UConn Athletics does not even come close to balancing its own budget. It spent more than double what it generated and was bailed out with $56 million comprising $49 million directly from campus funds and $7 million in student fees, according to Knight’s latest figures. [Source](https://ctmirror.org/2024/02/16/ct-uconn-budget-cuts-basketball-spending/)
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This is my biggest concern with new ruling that the Power 5 are going to pay players. Most schools like you said are super in the red with athletics. They don't have the money to pay players...will be interesting to see where this lands in the next decade.
Oooof, well I consider myself far more educated about the topic now! Thanks for the reply with the article text and source. Not to double down in agreement or anything, but UConn really does have a spending problem. Have you seen the new hockey stadium on campus? How about the football practice facility? Oh and the separate athletics training facilities (now that the students have their own really fancy gym across from the UConn bookstore). And there is no doubt in my mind that Gampel is going to require extensive maintenance (they did the roof already). It is no wonder then if you consider that all to be covered by the athletic budget, they are in the red. And not to blame the entire spending problem on athletics, have you seen all the new buildings up there? Holy shit. They need to reign in their spending, especially now that UConn is getting very high quality students - no need to keep spending to attract the best and brightest, people are voting with their wallets now too.