All 3 of these have to spend much of their 20+M shares on football----likely not what ND spends, but football would be a big drag for them. All of them have basketball to fund----hoops is very important at UC due to their history. BC has hockey to consider.....so all of these have to "spread it around" similar to ND.
I can tell you UC draws about as well as ND does in baseball, so they're not making money on attendance. WVU does better, but similarly their attendance isn't paying the bills. BC is likely worse than ND in attendance, and the weather sucks for much of the season.
We'll see if BC can keep this up, or if this is a flash in the pan. UC has been building so we'll see how they do from here. WVU is legitimately among the top 20 baseball schools at present.
Use any/all of them as a comparison for ND. Why can't ND afford to keep up with them? If the answer is donors for NIL, I would---as a follow up question----ask if ND just doesn't want to find a donor for baseball. Because I can't believe the other 3 mentioned can find that but there isn't one deep pocket that can help the baseball program at ND, especially when they roll out the 4 for 40 mantra all the time.
That's always been part of the problem -- athletics funding becomes a slog because the "whales" are walled off.
Meaning, this policy of letting non-football sports die on the vine until the PTB in college sports come to their senses is futile and silly. When has the horse ever been put back in the barn wrt college athletics. Answer is obviously never. I know ND wants a return to sanity, but it just isn't coming.
And the only other option is to become a laughingstock in the ACC, or lower yourself to the level of other more regional Catholic schools and join the Big East, or Atlantic 10, or worse.
If you don't want that, you need to find someone that can be creative and cunning in their approach to this new reality. You need someone that can deal with the competitors, donors, administrators, and the media rights. It's a big ask, but it's also a big position with a big paycheck.
I see nothing right now but a white flag being waved by the current athletic leadership. And I'm sure there is top down pressure on that seat....but, tough luck. That's the job. Find a way to deal with it and get on with it.
We don't tend to feel sorry for CEOs that run companies into the ground. Not sure how it's any different here.
But I think they also don’t have the staff to be good
to come to ND given the lack of institutional support? Maybe a young, climbing MAC or IAA coach looking as ND as an exposure stepping stone, but they won’t stay.