Most departments at the University draw funding from the state, private sources and student fees. But the athletic department's funding model relies on entirely different sources to generate revenue and pay out millions of dollars in scholarships to student-athletes who compete with 25 different teams across each athletic season.
Funding model\nTicket sales, payments from the Atlantic Coast Conference and NCAA, private gifts and student fees constitute the bulk of the department's revenue. The University saw ticket sales to its events take a hit during the most recent economic recession, but funding from other sources has remained steady, said Keith VanDerbeek, associate athletic director for business operations.
The process by which the department divvies up the money it does generate bears strong resemblance to the procedures other departments must follow when appropriating funds, VanDerbeek said.
The athletic department submits a balanced budget request to the University's Budget Office as well as University President Teresa A. Sullivan for review. The coaches take into account teams' competition schedules, budgets for meals, transportation and travel costs, recruiting costs, uniform costs and office expenses when constructing the budget request, which they create in the form of a spreadsheet.
The budget request represents a "fiscally responsible approach" by allocating funds based on need, men's tennis coach Brian Boland said. Although the budget request forms are submitted early fall for the following year - usually 12-14 months ahead of time - Boland said that when unanticipated situations arise that cause teams to exceed their planned budget, the department and University are usually forgiving.
"When situations come up that are not anticipated, the athletic department is willing to listen to our concerns but is not necessarily able to meet the needs if the concerns are brought up too late," Boland said.
A fair distribution\nThe amount each sport receives varies widely from sport to sport, but these variations usually depend on the costs that go into running each program. For the year ending June 30, the athletic department spent roughly $15 million on the football team, roughly 19 percent of the department's nearly $80 million in total expenditures. Men's basketball, meanwhile, took roughly $7 million while women's basketball received $3.3 million.
The athletic department distributed 316.6 scholarships, a total which is set by the NCAA. Scholarships cover full tuition, fees, book, room and board and are valued at about $22,543 for in-state and $46,219 for out-of-state students. Eighty-five of these scholarships went to members of the men's football team, and rowing received the second-highest number of scholarships with 20. Men's golf and men's tennis each doled out four-and-a-half scholarships to their players, the fewest of any sport.
The football team contributed roughly 22.5 percent of the athletic department's total revenue and 69.5 percent of the ticket sales for all sports, while 11.5 percent and 0.33 percent of total revenue came from men's basketball and women's basketball games, respectively.
When distributing funds, the athletic department allocates the maximum number of scholarships the NCAA allows and doesn't provide teams which produce the most revenue a greater share of the budget than they actually need to pay for scholarships, coaching staffs, equipment, transportation and other costs.
"The athletic department abides by the methodology that each sport gets treated equally," VanDerbeek said.
Despite the fact that the tennis teams receive less money than many others, Boland said he is pleased with the support the athletic department provides him.
"Quite frankly, I am not interested in how much other teams' funds are," Boland said. "My job is to provide the necessary information of needs [of the tennis team] to compete. The athletic director's job is to decide what is necessary to meet those needs. As far as men's tennis is concerned, we're pleased with the support from the athletic department as a whole"
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