Spring Break
SMU athletics deficit $56.7 million over four years
Mark Norris, Senior Staff Writer, mnorris@smu.edu
Issue date: 4/30/08 Section: News
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The department is projected to lose $16.8 million in 2008 and $16.3 million in 2009.
If those projections hold up, the SMU athletic department will have lost almost $90 million over six years, figures far larger than previously published estimates.
The number come from figures in university budget documents obtained by The Daily Campus.
Athletic Director Steve Orsini said meeting a budget and reining in the deficit are goals of his since he arrived in spring 2006.
"It's important, but is it realistic?," he said. "Only a handful of athletic departments do not have a deficit."
A recently published NCAA report confirms Orsini's statement. It analyzed the revenues and expenses of all NCAA Football Bowl subdivision (formerly known as Division I) schools in 2004, 2005 and 2006. Only 16 of the 119 schools reported profits.
But SMU's losses are much larger than the median number for the other 102 schools. According to the NCAA report, the median loss for these schools was $6 million in 2004, $6.8 million in 2005 and $9.4 million in 2006.
By comparison, SMU lost $12 million, $13.72 million and $12.96 million in the same period.
In 2007, Orsini's first full year at SMU, the deficit was $17.95 million.
Previously reported numbers had SMU's deficit between $3 and $5 million each year, but those numbers underreport the financial drain of scholarship funds, which are included in the bottom line of athletic departments.
Christine Casey, SMU's vice president for business and finance, agreed that self-sufficient athletic departments are hard to find.
"They're on campuses for various reasons," she said. "It's a part of the experience and an important function on campus."
"That being said, there's always a limit to what you're willing to do as far as supporting an activity and that's a question that's made internally every year."
All budgets at SMU, including the one submitted by the athletic department, begin going through preliminary drafts in the fall and are due to Casey's office by April. They are submitted for approval to the Board of Trustees at its May meeting.
Orsini said he takes seriously something President Gerald Turner said to him when he was hired - that he was to get the department in better fiscal shape.
Viewing Comments 1 - 3 of 3
anonymous
posted 4/30/08 @ 3:13 AM CST
Maybe if it wasn't for worsening tailgates, an overzealous police force, and terrible win loss records, people would go to some games. Look at Ole Miss. (Continued…)
Jon
posted 4/30/08 @ 8:28 PM CST
They REALLY need to work on the yellow jacket security folks. They have a military type attitude and you aren't going to keep fans that way. It is completely ridiculous. (Continued…)
RMK
posted 4/30/08 @ 10:48 PM CST
double digit deficit compared to the median deficits of single digits? it is not surprising. First, SMU's athletic department except for the Forrest Gregg years since the firing of Fry after the 72 season, is a program whose only mission is to raise money for the athletic department and for the school as a whole and selling tickets second. (Continued…)
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