In the first installment of this series, we learned that men’s basketball is one of only two programs at OSU to consistently bring in more revenues than expenses, and therefore, the sport generates a “profit”. Nevertheless, men’s basketball currently supplies 11% of all department revenues while football provides 51% of total revenues. This article profiles the financial health of the men’s basketball program and trends in the program over time. Future articles will present similar profiles for other OSU sports programs. Continue reading
Tag Archives: Money
Football Recruiting Expenses
This is the third article in the series on the financial health of OSU’s athletic department. In the first two articles, we learned that while football accounts for the majority of athletic department revenues, expenses for the program are less than all of our Pac-12 peers with the exception of WSU. Football expenses are directly related to recruiting, and the more spent specifically on recruiting more often than not, results in greater success in recruiting. Continue reading
A Financial Profile for OSU Football
In the first installment of this series, we learned that football is the economic engine that drives OSU’s athletic program, and currently supplies 51% of all department revenues. This article profiles the financial health of the football program and trends in the program over time. Future articles will present similar profiles for other OSU sports programs. Continue reading
An Introduction to Athletic Department Finances
Why should you care about the finances of the OSU athletic department?
Money is a factor in collegiate athletic competition and it affects everything from success in recruiting to how much coach that your favorite sports program can afford. The best recruits gravitate to programs that spend more on the sport and on facilities upgrades, the best coaches generally go to programs willing to pay the most, and so on. Moreover, is there enough “profit” to cover the cost of non-revenue and money-losing sports? This will be the first of a series of articles that I’m writing on the economic health of OSU’s sports programs. Continue reading
Recruiting Expenses in the Pac-12
The best estimate of football recruiting expenditures right now comes from the US Department of Education’s website on Post-secondary Education. At that site, recruiting expenses for student athletes are reported by gender – men’s and women’s recruiting. Since the individual football recruiting expenses have not been reported for the past 7 years, most analysts are now using the men’s recruiting expenses as a proxy for football expenses. This is appropriate since football accounts for the lion share of the men’s scholarships and recruiting expenses at D-1A schools. In the table below, I’ve compiled the men’s recruiting expenses for the past 3 recruiting classes for the Pac-12 conference. Continue reading
Raising the bar in OSU football recruiting
Oregon State’s football program hauled in the 38th ranked recruiting class in the nation in 2012 according to Rivals.com. This was a marked improvement over the unranked class in 2011 and was the second highest ever ranking for an OSU recruiting class (the best was 26th in 2004). The prize of the 2012 recruiting class was a large group of very high quality offensive linemen.
Figure 1. Conference rankings and average star rating for OSU football recruiting classes (source Rivals.com)