CR Gazette: ISU AD facing potential $147M deficit by 2031 with direct to player payments

[clonedude]

You can work the numbers different ways, but based on last year's statement. You could cut all the men's sports that lose money and a proportionate number of women's sports/scholarships and save a little north of $10 million a year. This would prevent Title IX problems.

HOWEVER, we can not do that today because we would fall below the minimum number of sports needed to be Division 1.

So, the question for me is who comes out on top in the NCAA. Do smaller schools like ISU convince the NCAA to drop the minimum number of sports OR do the wealthy bluebloods make the NCAA hold the limit to financially break the ISUs of the world and push them to being some sort of mid-major level.

Good post!

College football is going the way of the have’s and the have nots. They essentially do want to push to the side the programs that can’t keep up.

So the question becomes…. can ISU keep up? That remains to be seen obviously, but I’m not sure if there’s enough interest, or the financial means necessary to do so??

 

[SolarGarlic]

Well it’s now summer 2025.
Iowa has yet to agree to the extend the home and home football series beyond 2027.
If we lose the Iowa game at JTS every other year, we have bigger problems.

I know you said it's 2025, but this sounds straight out of Hawkeye Talking Points from 1999.

 

[nhclone]

Where's the 50-60M over inflation going? Coaches salaries? Facilities? Travel? Admin? I suppose its all of that, but IDK what % to each.

Where would you cut back?

Dollars are in Millions

Category	2010​	2024​	Change	Increase
Meals	$ -	$ 4.58	$ 4.58	N/A
Transfers Back	$ 3.54	$ 1.80	$ (1.74)	-49.2%​
Severance	$ 0.55	$ -	$ (0.55)	-100.0%​
Misc (Equipment, Supplies, Marketing, Camps, Admin, etc)	$ 6.58	$ 14.87	$ 8.29	126.0%​
Medical	$ 0.51	$ 1.09	$ 0.58	113.7%​
Competition Guarantees	$ 1.39	$ 1.55	$ 0.16	11.5%​
Recruiting	$ 1.03	$ 1.58	$ 0.55	53.4%​
Game Expenses/Travel	$ 5.67	$ 12.88	$ 7.21	127.2%​
Facilities and Debt	$ 9.97	$ 34.33	$ 24.36	244.3%​
Coaching Compensation	$ 7.55	$ 21.25	$ 13.70	181.5%​
Non-Coaches	$ 7.32	$ 19.95	$ 12.63	172.5%​
Student Aid	$ 6.08	$ 9.96	$ 3.88	63.8%​
Totals	$ 50.19	$ 123.84	$ 73.65	146.7%​

 

[Remo Gaggi]

Good post!

College football is going the way of the have’s and the have nots. They essentially do want to push to the side the programs that can’t keep up.

So the question becomes…. can ISU keep up? That remains to be seen obviously, but I’m not sure if there’s enough interest, or the financial means necessary to do so??

I foresee a time, maybe five or six years from now when the greed becomes so strong that the top 40 or so schools move into the college super league, and we’re not in it. It won’t change anything for me, I’ll still go to games and spend money on cyclone sports.

 

[CascadeClone]

So over 14 years, 5%-ish inflation means ~2x the original number. So its about $25M over inflation.

amounts above inflation:

• Players (meals, medical, student aid) = $2.5M
• Facilities: $14M
• Coaches: $6M
• Non-coaches: $5M
• the rest is actually negative in real terms (including recruiting expense!)

I guess i would poke hard at "non-coaches" as far as what that is. Is it admins? Or is it "analysts" for football and mbb? IDK how much you can save there. But basically its facilities and coaches, as expected. Thus the slowdowns on facility spends to try and cover athlete payments.

At least with facilities, I think its easier to get donors to do a one-time big donation on a facility that can get their name on it.

 

[1SEIACLONE]

I foresee a time, maybe five or six years from now when the greed becomes so strong that the top 40 or so schools move into the college super league, and we’re not in it. It won’t change anything for me, I’ll still go to games and spend money on cyclone sports.

It's where we are headed and have been for some time. Most of the conference media contracts run out around 2030, that is when this will really begin to heat up. It will be interesting to see if all the B10 schools go into the new league or will some schools, decide is better for them to concentrate on bb and move away from FB.
Out of the B12, OSU, KSU, Baylor, Utah, both Arizona schools, TT, TCU, Colorado will all try to be part of the group of schools in the super league. ISU and KU may be in the group of schools that move towards BB and away from FB. Just not sure ISU will ever have the money to be in the top 40 schools.

 

[mkadl]

I foresee a time, maybe five or six years from now when the greed becomes so strong that the top 40 or so schools move into the college super league, and we’re not in it. It won’t change anything for me, I’ll still go to games and spend money on cyclone sports.

I have been saying this for years. Lets just get it over with and move on already. I would just never want to play one of those top 40 teams, they can play with themselves.

 

[clonedude]

I have been saying this for years. Lets just get it over with and move on already. I would just never want to play one of those top 40 teams, they can play with themselves.

That’s where part of me is at too. Give them what they want, and hopefully everyone sees how much worse the overall product is. FAFO.

 

[mkadl]

That’s where part of me is at too. Give them what they want, and hopefully everyone sees how much worse the overall product is. FAFO.

I dont think product will be worse. Raiding the the lower paygrade should be prevented, somehow. Huge buyout in the contract? I am not smart enough to figure it out.

 

[Cyclone Pfan]

I know this is a bit dated (March '24), but we're on the cusp of top 40.

NCAA Finances: Revenue & Expenses by School - USA TODAY

Which are the most profitable college athletic programs in the country? See a ranked listed, including total revenue and expenses. Brought to you by USA TODAY.

sportsdata.usatoday.com

We are ahead of some partial-distribution B1G teams as well as exPAC teams (that will jump due to B1G media).

I wonder If there is a report that removes media distributions to compare internally generated revenue. I think some ACC and Big12 teams would slide up in those ranks.

 

[CascadeClone]

I know this is a bit dated (March '24), but we're on the cusp of top 40.

NCAA Finances: Revenue & Expenses by School - USA TODAY

Which are the most profitable college athletic programs in the country? See a ranked listed, including total revenue and expenses. Brought to you by USA TODAY.

sportsdata.usatoday.com

We are ahead of some partial-distribution B1G teams as well as exPAC teams (that will jump due to B1G media).

I wonder If there is a report that removes media distributions to compare internally generated revenue. I think some ACC and Big12 teams would slide up in those ranks.

Id think you just take everyones total rev number and subtract the tv contracts. And youre right, it would be a real interesting number...

 

[1SEIACLONE]

I know this is a bit dated (March '24), but we're on the cusp of top 40.

NCAA Finances: Revenue & Expenses by School - USA TODAY

Which are the most profitable college athletic programs in the country? See a ranked listed, including total revenue and expenses. Brought to you by USA TODAY.

sportsdata.usatoday.com

We are ahead of some partial-distribution B1G teams as well as exPAC teams (that will jump due to B1G media).

I wonder If there is a report that removes media distributions to compare internally generated revenue. I think some ACC and Big12 teams would slide up in those ranks.

But as those schools start to get full shares, they are going to move ahead of ISU and other schools. When the B10 schools are getting $85 to $90 million from media revenue and ISU is getting $40 million it adds up over time.
The sorry thing by most metrics other than overall funds, ISU is right around #35 to #40. Attendance, and other factors are strong, but it will all come down to money.