Civic Skinny

It's not about the money for math; it is for sports

Figure this one out: Gov. Terry Branstad and the Legislature cut by nearly $4.3 million — that's 5.4 percent — the funding for this year for the University of Northern Iowa, the university that trains the state's teachers. Then the governor holds a big meeting on education, talks about restoring Iowa's lead in education, and creates the "Governor's Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Advisory Council." Among the council's goals: "Better preparing math and science teachers."

As co-chair, he names Ben Allen, the president of UNI.

Huh?

Allen's first recommendation should be clear: Give UNI back the money.

Meantime, Skinny, always trying to be constructive, has come up with a solution to another of UNI's money problems: its costly subsidization of the athletic program.

This year, the university will have to put $3 million of its general funds — that's money from tuition and state appropriations — to help pay for the program, which gets none of the big-time television and bowl and conference money that Iowa and Iowa State get.

The other day, The Des Moines Register's Randy Peterson noted that Iowa will shell out more than $1 million to entice Louisiana-Monroe to show up and be battered at Kinnick Stadium on Sept. 24. "There are only so many schools that are willing to play games without a home-and-home relationship," an Iowa official explained to Peterson.

So it's clear: UNI should leave the Missouri Valley Conference and become a road team, scheduling the highest bidder for each of its 11 games. It could pick up $10 million or so, enough to offset the subsidy, offset the drop in state appropriations to the school, and provide some more money to teach those aspiring math and science teachers. They'd become the Washington Generals of college football.

You read it here first. And last.

Before you go to Google: The Washington Generals are the team that plays the Harlem Globetrotters. The Generals have beaten the Globetrotters twice in 58 years. ...

The University of Iowa expects to make about $4.5 million on its football program this year, and that doesn't count the millions the school gets from television contracts and bowl games. It is budgeted to lose about $2.5 million on men's basketball, around $700,000 on wrestling, and around $4 million on all other men's sports — tennis and golf and track and the like.

The university expects to lose around $3 million on women's basketball, more than $1.1 million on volleyball, and around $7.8 million on all other women's sports — tennis and golf and track and the like.

Those figures — being presented to the Board of Regents this week — add up to a loss of around $3 million on men's sports and nearly $12 million on women's sports. All told, the University of Iowa expects to take in nearly $75 million — actually, a record $74,942,716 — in athletics income in the fiscal year that ends next June 30, with a whopping $23 million or so coming from the Big Ten and other TV and bowl deals. Another $8.6 million comes from gifts. Amazingly, it expects to spend that same $74,942,716. That's about a 6 percent increase from the $70,736,793 estimate for income — and, of course, spending — in the fiscal year just ended. It returns nothing to the university.

The athletic department at Iowa State University is budgeted to take in $46,144,311 and to spend $46,042,151 in the current year, up from $42,220,610 in revenue and $42,117,046 in spending in the year just ended. Those increases are around 9 percent. The increase is primarily because of a new TV deal for the Big 12 Conference. For the first time in recent memory, there is no direct subsidy to the ISU athletic department from general university funds; last year, the subsidy was about $1.6 million.

Iowa State gets $8.5 million in ticket revenue for football and spends $2.9 million on the sport, for a profit of $5.6 million. It pulls in another $11 million in football revenue from the Big 12 Conference and TV deals. Men's basketball is sort of the same: $2.3 million in ticket revenue, $4.1 million in TV and conference money, and costs of about $1.4 million. Women's basketball takes in $550,000; it costs a bit more than $700,000 to suit up the team. The wrestling team spends about $75,000 more than it takes in.

The increase in revenue at Iowa State comes primarily from a better TV deal. The increase at Iowa comes in large part from fees fans pay for premium seats at the renovated Carver-Hawkeye Arena. These big jumps come as the universities themselves struggle with reduced state appropriations and as parents struggle with tuition-and-fee increases of around 6 percent — and up to 12 percent in some cases.

Meantime, take pity on UNI. Its athletic revenues — and expenses — this year are budgeted at $11,489,124, down slightly from the estimated $11,505,111 taken in last year. The university will lose around $1.8 million on football this year, around $800,000 on men's basketball, close to $1 million on all other men's sports, and around $3.5 million on women's sports.

Unless they become the Washington Generals. CV