OT: D1

[EyeoftheHawk]

One season after losing to the #5 team in the PSAC West, Robert Morris will get paid $475,000 to get their asses spanked in RichRod's prodigal return.

Ridiculous.

[Fightingscot82]

One season after losing to the #5 team in the PSAC West, Robert Morris will get paid $475,000 to get their asses spanked in RichRod's prodigal return.

[Bart]

Cleveland State is a weird school. Rapid evolution over time from sleepy YMCA affiliated college to urban public. They're an R2 classification with a law school - but about 40% of their students are grad students and only a $90M endowment. That doesn't bode well for D1 sports - you need that donor base to boost revenue because Cleveland State isn't generating interest in Cleveland even on the same level as Kent State does.

Cleveland State's deficit was reportedly over 40 million and going up 6 million a year due to enrollment shrinking to 13,000. Read recently they used 9 million in reserves for staff buyouts to save money long term. They also have one of those large 14,000 seat new arenas for basketball with 1500 spectators; this is apparently a money pit. Also large commuter school which doesn't help fill seats. Wrestling team made $9,000 in ticket sales. What is shocking, they don't have a football team that sucks up the millions. Imagine the future of college sports with NIL and the cost of winning- $20 million for Ohio State football-continually increasing, causing other sports to disappear.

[Fightingscot82]

Cleveland State is a weird school. Rapid evolution over time from sleepy YMCA affiliated college to urban public. They're an R2 classification with a law school - but about 40% of their students are grad students and only a $90M endowment. That doesn't bode well for D1 sports - you need that donor base to boost revenue because Cleveland State isn't generating interest in Cleveland even on the same level as Kent State does.

[iupgroundhog]

Yes, 10 years ago they raised money, but this sounds different.

"Can CSU and CSU Athletics fundraise to keep these sport programs?

Gifts to CSU and CSU Athletics are always appreciated and welcome. However, each sport program requires annual funding in perpetuity. The decision to discontinue these programs is final and would not be impacted by additional funding."

Unfortunate.

[Bart]

They cut wrestling several years ago, too, but they got the funding to save it. Of course, the wrestling community is up in arms about it. They will try to save it again. CSU's Coach Moore is the brother of LHU Coach Moore. I think they are twins but I could be wrong. I also read that the wrestlers had the highest team GPA of any CSU sport, FWIW.

Yes, 10 years ago they raised money, but this sounds different.

"Can CSU and CSU Athletics fundraise to keep these sport programs?

Gifts to CSU and CSU Athletics are always appreciated and welcome. However, each sport program requires annual funding in perpetuity. The decision to discontinue these programs is final and would not be impacted by additional funding."

[iupgroundhog]

Cleveland State announced the removal of wrestling, women’s golf and softball amid a reduction of the athletics budget. The next day the wrestling team beat Bloom and Clarion. Talk about football and athletic budgets.

https://www.newsbreak.com/on3-com-15...ve-the-program

They cut wrestling several years ago, too, but they got the funding to save it. Of course, the wrestling community is up in arms about it. They will try to save it again. CSU's Coach Moore is the brother of LHU Coach Moore. I think they are twins but I could be wrong. I also read that the wrestlers had the highest team GPA of any CSU sport, FWIW.

[Bart]

Cleveland State announced the removal of wrestling, women’s golf and softball amid a reduction of the athletics budget. The next day the wrestling team beat Bloom and Clarion. Talk about football and athletic budgets.

https://www.newsbreak.com/on3-com-15...ve-the-program

[IUP24]

I don’t feel sorry for any of them.

I don't either. Numbers really bear out the exponential increase in spending started to boom tenfold with the inception of the College Football Playoff back in 2014. It created a playoff or bust mentality that drove spending because the carrot in front of the blueblood programs was the payout that occurred for simply making the College Football Playoff. It's another reason why I said then, and still believe now, that creating the College Football Playoff (while popular for many) was actually counterproductive for the overall health of the sport.

About 15 FBS schools would rather be football factories than fully functioning athletic departments or universities.

[IUPNation]

Lol...

Penn State had to cut somewhere between 10-20 million in operating expenses last year just to break even on their university's balance sheet. They are also financing a 750 million dollar renovation to Beaver Stadium over the next 10 years. I'm not sure their financial situation is any better.

What is actually interesting is the universities you are seeing across the board with these financial struggles are the ones who are involved in the football arms race and are the ones who we generally just assume rake in indefinite amounts of money. They may be making that money, but they are spending more than they are bringing in.

I don’t feel sorry for any of them.

[IUPNation]

Losing Jim Knowles to Penn State should help a little, lol.

It’s interesting he bolted from Columbus to Happy Valley.

[IUP24]

Losing Jim Knowles to Penn State should help a little, lol.

Lol...

Penn State had to cut somewhere between 10-20 million in operating expenses last year just to break even on their university's balance sheet. They are also financing a 750 million dollar renovation to Beaver Stadium over the next 10 years. I'm not sure their financial situation is any better.

What is actually interesting is the universities you are seeing across the board with these financial struggles are the ones who are involved in the football arms race and are the ones who we generally just assume rake in indefinite amounts of money. They may be making that money, but they are spending more than they are bringing in.

[Chuck Norris]

Report is that Ohio State’s athletic department operated at a deficit of 37 million dollars in 2024.

Losing Jim Knowles to Penn State should help a little, lol.

[IUP24]

Indiana let go of about 25 athletic department staffers a few weeks ago to cut costs. My guess is that if the House settlement goes through all the approval hoops and schools have to start revenue sharing and backpay we’re going to see major cuts to non-rev/Olympic sports and athletic department staffing to keep football, MBB, and maybe WBB and baseball afloat even at “big” schools.

Yeah, that’s what’s going to happen. The arms race of football created this. I understand that many people wanted straight “pay for play” for a long time (I didn’t), but it is hilarious that when they got what they wished for, it’s shown that the model of paying people under the table was for more sustainable for the schools and supporters, and far more healthy for those in non-revenue sports.

[TheBigCat2192]

Report is that Ohio State’s athletic department operated at a deficit of 37 million dollars in 2024.

Indiana let go of about 25 athletic department staffers a few weeks ago to cut costs. My guess is that if the House settlement goes through all the approval hoops and schools have to start revenue sharing and backpay we’re going to see major cuts to non-rev/Olympic sports and athletic department staffing to keep football, MBB, and maybe WBB and baseball afloat even at “big” schools.