Legal Commentary

The USA Today carries an interesting story today about the cost of college sports in the context of university economic struggles. I have blogged about this general proposition on the Voir Dire Blog here, but that was before the financial meltdown. Here are some intriguing excerpts from the USA Today story:

... More than $800 million in student fees and university subsidies are propping up athletic programs at the nation's top sports colleges, including hundreds of millions in the richest conferences, a USA TODAY analysis found. ...

... Taken together, the subsidies for athletics at 99 public schools in the NCAA's 120-member Football Bowl Subdivision grew about 20% in four years, from $685 million in 2005 to $826 million in 2008, after adjusting for inflation. At more than a third of those schools, the percentage of athletic department revenue coming from subsidies grew during the four-year period studied....

... Of the 30 public schools where the percentage of athletics revenue coming from allocated sources rose the most from 2005 to 2008, about half are from schools in the power conferences, often assumed to be self-supporting. The '09 reports, which might show bigger gaps because of the recession, are due Friday....

...Nebraska and Louisiana State were the only schools whose athletics programs reported receiving no subsidies in each of the four years studied....

If you'd like to see a specific school's revenue and expenses go here.