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Economics of Tulane athletics under scrutiny
By The Associated Press with Bonesville.net staff contributions
NEW ORLEANS — It was a big year for Tulane athletics, but
all is not well. Victories on the field are not translating to fiscal
success and, as a result, the future status of the Green Wave program may
hang in the balance.
The football team finished 8-5 and beat Hawaii in the Hawaii
Bowl. The men's tennis and women's golf teams were in NCAA regionals. The
traditionally powerful baseball team reached Sunday's championship game of
the
Conference USA tournament. The
women's basketball team made it to the NCAA tournament for the ninth
straight year.
But the athletic department ended $5 million in the red last
year, and a university committee is considering dropping programs and
dropping to a lower division.
"Coming off our most successful athletic year in our
history, or close to it, it's really difficult to talk about things like
dropping programs or dropping down in class," athletic director Rick Dickson
said.
Tulane athletics has had its operations streamlined since
Dickson took over three years ago, and football attendance has grown. The
school averaged 27,300 per game last year, Dickson said, well above the
17,000 the NCAA will demand to stay in Division I-A.
Tulane's committee to study the athletics program has a
number of options. It could change nothing, drop football and stay in
Division I, or keep football but drop to Division III.
The cost of sustaining a Division I program with football is
around $21 million. A Division III program is around $5 million.
Dickson told the committee this week that no changes should
be made to the program.
"We thought he made a great presentation and there may be a
possibility that we'll make a decision next week," said committee member
James Reiss.
Tulane has begun trying to increase season ticket sales and
the financial support it gets for athletics. The school sold 5,277 season
tickets for football in 2002; the goal for 2004 is 11,000.
Dickson said fans and alumni are responding.
"Our endowments are up, our support is up. Season ticket
sales for football are 25 percent ahead of this time last year. It's all
very encouraging."
Tulane, a charter member of Conference USA, is not the only
school in the league facing questions from interested bean counters about
the economics of its intercollegiate sports endeavors.
UAB and Houston are under intense pressure to increase
sagging ticket sales and revenues in football, the sport that carries much
of the financial burden for the athletic programs at most Division I-A
schools.
Conference officials and school administrators throughout
the 14-team league are also keeping a wary eye on the potential implications
of the ACC's ongoing campaign to bring into its domain Miami, Syracuse and
Boston College of the Big East.
If the ACC raid is successful, the Big East may make efforts
to offset the loss by luring a few of C-USA's most financially sound
programs.
Copyright 2003
The Associated Press. All rights reserved. Bonesville.net contributed to
this report. This material may not be
published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
02/23/2007 10:48:04 AM
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