Interesting Women's Basketball Article

[HajiShirazu]

Women's basketball is the #1 money loser by far at most schools.

[CardSharpCook]

Familiar with the low end of financial reports, the women's basketball program loses money at an alarming rate.

The Lady Lions were $1.76 million in the red last season, in which the team went 19-11 and played in the NCAA Tournament.

Upon being told for the first time of the women's team's losses, one source within the athletic department could only utter a monosyllabic response of surprise: "Wow!"

Women's basketball has proven to be dead weight for the typical athletic department looking to stay afloat financially. Only seven programs in the country reported a profit last year.

For many athletic departments the question is not whether the women's team will lose money, but just how much. For Penn State, the numbers, again, are not pretty.

As far as operating expenses go, the Lady Lions received more funding per player ($58,552) than any other team at University Park -- or the Big Ten, for that matter. This includes every sport, men's or women's.

Operating expenses are all expenses an institution incurs attributable to home, away and neutral-site intercollegiate athletic contests. These are commonly known as game-day expenses -- accounting for lodging, meals, transportation, uniforms and equipment for players, coaches, trainers and managers.

Last season's average attendance of 8,665 watched Rene Portland's crew post an undefeated home record. This year's attendance was just under 6,500 for a team that went 13-16 overall amid much negative publicity.

Surprisingly, for every poorly attended Nittany Lion or Lady Lion home game, the department must first pay just for the right to host the event below the black curtains of the Jordan Center. Penn State Assistant Athletic Director Dave Baker said the rental fee is not large, and that the department always makes more money than it dishes out to use the facility.

Such a practice is not uncommon, as Ohio State basketball and hockey do the same with the Value City Arena at the Jerome Schottenstein Center on the Ohio State campus. 2004-05 revenues would have been $18 million higher if the arena was still in Ohio State's athletic budget. Ohio State paid $1.7 million last year to rent out the Schottenstein Center, which used to be run by the athletic department, but is now a stand alone operation under Ohio State's office of student affairs.

Only five of the 14 Lady Lions' home games this year drew a crowd that could not have fit into Rec Hall. If the team played some home games in Rec Hall -- the ones that the athletic department could predict as bad draws -- the program could save money on facilities.

In the greater picture, if the women's team were to break even, for example, the money saved would be more than enough to cover the operating costs of every other female athletic team at Penn State.

Ohio State led the nation in money lost from women's hoops last year, losing nearly $2 million from a program that won 30 games and a share of the Big Ten title before losing in the Sweet 16.

The Buckeyes could better afford to drop the money on women's basketball, though, as they generated the second highest football revenue in the nation with a $51.8 million intake.

Between the Lady Lions hemorrhaging money and the men's team not making as much as its Big Ten counterparts, perhaps there is more pressure put upon the football program to generate the funds necessary to keep a major athletic program running.

When 27 sports depend upon a few, a string of bad years can have a very negative impact on the entire program.

"Whenever revenue is less than you'd want it to be from the athletic department, then that's going to put a limit on what the athletic department can do," Myford said. "That's just simple financial reality."

[CardSharpCook]

[ QUOTE ]
In the greater picture, if the women's team were to break even, for example, the money saved would be more than enough to cover the operating costs of every other female athletic team at Penn State.

[/ QUOTE ]