Despite Brown having triple the sports I can almost...
by FL_Irish (2020-06-07 12:56:53)

In reply to: Brown expecting $100-200 million revenue decline  posted by fortune_smith

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...guarantee that its athletic department budget is smaller than Vandy’s, likely substantially so.

My wife coached in the Ivy League for over a decade. Those athletic departments are lean to the point of being unrecognizable to someone familiar with a Power 5 department. Functions that at a place like Vandy would have teams of people (sports marketing, compliance, etc.) staffed by one person, often young, underpaid and inexperienced. The poor quality of athletic training because of under/inexperienced staffing has been something of a scandal at a couple schools.

Early in my wife’s career (mid 2000s) I used to be the PA announcer because they didn’t pay anyone to do it.

I don’t disagree that Ivy athletic budgets are going to be under pressure (although note that they are increasingly funded via specific endowments). But relative number of sports isn’t necessarily a great way to think about their budgets.

Budget should be considered in context of revenue
by fortune_smith  (2020-06-07 14:33:41)     cannot delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Reply to Post

While relative number of sports does not comment on budget sizes, it does provide valuable context for an out-sized commitment to athletics, both on an absolute basis and a net-cost basis.

The only two D1 schools near the Ivies' zip code in number of sports are Stanford and Ohio State.

Athletic programs consume 15-20% of admissions slots at most Ivies. (Versus probably about 1% at Ohio St. And it will be far, far lower than the 15-20% at Vandy, which is similar in size and national academic ranking to Brown.)

Of course Brown's budget is smaller than Vandy's (and other P5 athletic departments). For starters, Vandy is operating with an SEC budget in football and basketball. They also have one of the top baseball programs in the country, so good that baseball has actually become a revenue sport. Additionally, athletic scholarships are part of the athletic budget at Vandy, whereas athletes' financial aid is part of the financial aid budget at the Browns of the world.

The bottom line is that Brown and its Ivy peers generate virtually no athletic revenue, so their departments, even run in many respects on a shoestring budget, operate at enormous losses. In contrast, Vandy's is probably a net generator for the university.