Sun Sentinel...I'm disappointed
Posted
#165827
(In Topic #29632)
Wise Owl
Member since 2003
I can't believe how biased these articles are and how they never discuss the costs of a new upstart program. You can't compare established state programs to a startup! Period!
I sent him an email already.
FAU, FIU students bankroll athletics
Fees at the two universities will pay 73 percent of sports budgets.
By Ted Hutton
Staff Writer
Posted April 1 2005
Students are funding athletic departments at Florida Atlantic University and Florida International University at a rate that far exceeds the national average for Division I-A schools.
Under the budget plan revealed Tuesday, FAU students would pay $7.9 million of the school's $10.87 million athletic budget, or 73 percent. At FIU, student fees provide $10.1 million of this year's $13.8 million athletic budget, also 73 percent.
"That is unusually high, and the magnitude concerns me," said Daniel Fulks, who compiles an NCAA annual report, Revenues and Expenses of Intercollegiate Athletics.
The national average is about 5 percent, he said.
"Student athletic fees are a very political animal," Fulks said. "It's hidden tuition."
FAU's Board of Trustees is expected to approve a 17 percent increase in the athletic fee, from $11.75 to $13.75 per credit hour. That puts the bill for athletic fees at $330 a year for a full-time student taking 24 credit hours and makes FAU's athletic fee the highest in the state.
The higher fees would add $1.2 million to the athletic budget, which is expected to be short $1.7 million this year and owes about $2 million from the two previous years.
"The schools that are making money are getting revenue from lots of different sources, like tickets, bowl games, men's basketball. And I don't see FAU doing any of that," Fulks said.
Ticket sales provide an average of 27 percent of revenue at I-A schools, while FAU expects to get 3 percent next year.
The average I-A school gets 18 percent of its money for athletics from private donations, while FAU projects receiving 3 percent next year.
"I've never seen a budget like this. How long can you expect to be able to get the kids to support that program?" Fulks said.
While students at FAU and FIU were providing the majority of athletic funds before the two schools added football, that sport forced them to raise fees in recent years. FAU began playing in 2001, FIU in 2002.
The programs at each school cost about $3 million and revenues have fallen far short of that.
More realistic revenue projections have kept FIU out of debt, while FAU went into the red after failing to meet revenue targets that proved to be wildly optimistic.
But both schools have tapped into the only reliable revenue stream available, the students.
"It's not fair to students, but there was nobody else to take on the burden," said Helen Marshall, an FAU student who sat on the nine-member committee that recommended the fee increase be approved. "You have no idea how miserable I have been over this."
The committee, headed by Athletic Director Craig Angelos, had four student representatives and four other administrators.
"It was clear to us the president and trustees were absolutely committed to football," Marshall said.
"Whether I want it or not doesn't mean anything. We felt we had to come to a compromise."
Angelos said, "Increasing the fee was something we wanted to avoid, but after reviewing our options, it was the only thing we could do in the short term."
Marshall said the compromise included a pledge that after three years the university would back out of the fee increase over a four-year period.
"We said we weren't giving any more, and that it should be reduced when the crisis is over," Marshall said.
"This is supposed to be a win-win, but so far it hasn't been."
Angelos and FIU Athletic Director Rick Mello say their goal is to reduce the percentage of student funding as quickly as possible.
"I have a huge debt of gratitude to our students. If they hadn't supported us, football would not have been possible," Mello said.
After listening to Angelos' three-year budget plan, FAU Trustee Norman Tripp acknowledged the status of the students for the athletic department.
"They are paying most of it now. It is theirs," Tripp said.
That is why, Tripp said, football must survive.
"At the end of the day, if we don't make it successful, then we have to tell all those students their money was a waste," Tripp said.
Ted Hutton can be reached at [email protected].
Posted
Wise Owl
Member since 2004
Sun Sentinel...I'm disappointed
Posted
Wise Owl
Member since 2004
Sun Sentinel...I'm disappointed
Posted
Wise Owl
Member since 2004
Sun Sentinel...I'm disappointed
Posted
Wise Owl
Member since 2004
Sun Sentinel...I'm disappointed
We also should remember the amount and quality of attention and space FAU football received in years one and two, especially, when we had such a small (though loyal) following. All in all, we have been treated pretty well by the Sun-Sentinel, Post and Herald, as well as the Treasure Coast papers (Stuart, Ft. Pierce and Vero Beach). (I don't see the Boca News site, so I cannot say anything about it.)
As for the papers liking negative news: Not really. The papers are the messengers; they provide, in large part, what the public wants. And the public loves this stuff.
I don't speak for anyone else on this board, of course. But I am of the strong opinion that problems and challenges cannot be resolved until they are identified. So I say, go ahead an identify them, and we'll resolve them.
Hint: If a columnist (or editorial-page writer) gets under your skin, you can ignore him/her (which I recommend usually). Or you can respond and run the risk of keeping it alive longer than it normally would survive.
That said, it's a free country and all of us have a right to do as we please. I'm not trying to tell anyone what to do. Rather, I'm offering an insider's look at a strategy.
Have a great weekend. I'm heading out to Breckenridge, Colo., 110 miles from home, for a final weekend of skiing. I'll be the guy wearing the FAU hockey jersey on the slopes and in the lodge, where I shall be parked from time to time, hiding behind a Bloody Mary or a Coors Light, depending upon time of day….
Posted
Bytor
Member since 2004
Sun Sentinel...I'm disappointed
Sun Sentinel...I'm disappointed
Do a couple double diamonds for me ;D
Posted
Wise Owl
Member since 2004
Sun Sentinel...I'm disappointed
Posted
Wise Owl
Member since 2003
Sun Sentinel...I'm disappointed
Posted
Wise Owl
Member since 2003
Sun Sentinel...I'm disappointed
Now with that said here's a take on the issues:
Businesses and local promoters will read the papers. However, anyone who will donate or participate in FAU fundraisers will not take a newspaper article as the bible. Would you? They will investigate the claims themselves before giving. So the work of the writer is to get the info out there. Like one poster said sensationalism sells news!We may not like it but we will lose too many potential donors to it either. Anyone who will make up their minds from a news article without first verifying the issues, before donating should keep their money anyway. They could probably use it more than us.
It would be nice to recieve positive media press all the time but we have to take the source and run with it from there. You should see some of the things they have written about BCS Champions Southern Cal!!!!!
Posted
Wise Owl
Member since 2004
Sun Sentinel...I'm disappointed
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