#MSBLFriday411 - Pandemic Dominos

As I was thinking about what to write for this week's post, my e-mail inbox continued to fill up with newsbreak notices from conferences around the country who have opted to cancel fall sports or delayed their start date until later into August or September. Obviously, the announcements that have drawn the most prominent attention have been the decision by most (if not all) of the Power-Five conferences to play ONLY a conference schedule this year. While this is understandable, it is regrettable and unfortunate because (while all institutions are in difficult financial situations because of this pandemic) it can set off a string of dominos that cause a much wider effect.

In an article published on ESPN by Mark Schlabach and Paula Lavigne in May of this year, a total cancelation of the college football season could cause a collective $4 billion loss to college sports that wouldforever alter the landscape. While most departments and universities have instituted hiring freezes and cut programs, nearly half of public-school Power 5 athletic departments total revenue is derived from football with 14% alone in ticket sales. While at the "Group of 5" conference level, a majority of those schools get their funding from institutional support (62.5%) and student fees (34%), which a vast majority of schools have refunded with no students on campus.

Not only will the landscape of college sports be altered, but the landscape of many of the communities that support the college also. On July 8th, the Baton Rouge CBS affiliate TV station reported that IF the LSU Tiger Football season was canceled OR fans were excluded, it would result in a $50 million-dollar loss to the local economy (equivalent in impact to the loss of the Christmas shopping season.) The 12% concession sales tax that local civic organizations rely on would obviously be significantly impacted as well to an approximate $1 million-dollar loss.

While a proud graduate of an NCAA Division II (non-football…now) school, despite national titles in women's soccer and men's basketball in recent years, athletics (overall) doesn't produce the income it needs to support itself. It relies on donations, institutional support, and (while occasional) appearance fees for playing exhibition games against larger schools. This is common, especially as you move further up the college athletics food chain where schools (particularly at the Division One – Football Championship Subdivision) are paid six-figure sums (on the high end) to help fill out Power Five schedules. While the miracles do happen (see Michigan vs. Appalachian State), most of the time, it isn't a huge fan draw, and we typically see results like the 2019 Western Carolina vs. Alabama game were the Tide won 66-3. These appearance fees provide much needed extra cash for the smaller school athletic department to improve and build their program but sometimes just be able to balance their budget.

To personalize this a bit, here are the Pac-12 games are not happening this year because of the conference-only schedule decision:

On Wednesday, July 15th, the conference-only schedule move was made even more tangible by an article published in The Oregonian highlighting what the fiscal impact would be to Oregon’s only NCAA-FCS school Portland State. Portland State lost two football games versus Pac-12 opponents (a 9/5 game at Arizona & 9/19 at Oregon State) that would have brought in approximately $950,000 to the department. According to the annual college athletic financial information published by USA Today, Portland State had an estimated $2.9 million-dollar surplus; however, this also includes approximately $7 million in institutional support for the department. Portland State Athletic Director Valerie Cleary is sympathetic to the situation her P-5 colleagues are in however said:

“…we also have to understand that this is $950,000 out of our budget. We’ve already taken hits elsewhere, and we’ll continue to. Just from a survival standpoint, this is super important to us.”

While this article took a definite "gloom and doom" tone, all is NOT lost and we shouldn't write off fall entirely. There is still time left between now and when conferences will have to make decisions for fall competition. Based on speculation and (apparent) financial implications AT ALL levels in major college sports, multiple options are being explored. We all must continue to not only support our local small businesses and restaurants in whatever way we can, but also consider giving back to your alma matter both on the academic and athletic side. The younger demographic was (in general) before the pandemic the least giving donor segment, and now more than ever giving back (however you can) is needed. We all "blast" college sports for the massive amounts of money at play at the larger institutions, but remember for every professional athlete that Texas produces there is an athlete at a place like Portland State where the money is not as large, and that athlete becomes a true professional as a member of that greater university community as a teacher or business owner.