Conference USA is pinched any way you cut it
Posted: Wed Jun 03, 2009 10:00 amConference USA is pinched any way you cut it
10:22 PM CDT on Tuesday, June 2, 2009
By KATE HAIROPOULOS / The Dallas Morning News
[email protected]
Even the beachside Destin, Fla., setting couldn't camouflage what Conference USA athletic directors, administrators and football and basketball coaches faced at their recent spring meetings.
This much was clear: "The atmosphere down there from the whole group was that we've got to do something," SMU athletic director Steve Orsini said.
Earlier, all 12 C-USA schools had been told to make athletic budget cuts, totaling more than $10 million. Now the Irving-based conference was prepared to help the schools identify cuts at the league level expected to save at least another half-million dollars.
College athletics aren't immune to today's brutal economics, and schools are already feeling or predicting pain from loss of state funding, lower return on endowments and a decrease in alumni giving, corporate spending and licensing revenues.
While some schools in power conferences are also feeling crunched, C-USA schools' budgets are already inherently smaller than the big guys'. They spend annually less than one-third of what powerhouses such as Texas or Ohio State do.
At SMU, as part of institution-wide pullbacks, 10 positions were cut in athletics, leaving a staff of 120. A cap was placed on the number of athletes enrolled in summer school. No C-USA schools cut teams, which has been the answer elsewhere.
As a league, C-USA's cuts – some of the most significant in college sports to date, commissioner Britton Banowsky said – focused on altering conference schedules to reduce travel. That's one of the biggest ways it can help its schools, which stretch from Greenville, N.C., to El Paso. The league also reduced the number of teams that will qualify for postseason tournaments and the size of team travel squads, including football from 70 to 66.
C-USA's presidents and chancellors approved the recommendations from the Destin meetings after convening Monday in Dallas.
"We initiated a process in January when we saw what the economy was doing, and we saw the pain our universities were experiencing," Banowsky said last week. "We wanted to try to make a difference."
Losses abound
Still, a league can do only so much. The heftiest costs to an athletic department are on campus, from coaches' salaries, staff and scholarships. Most departments nationally already lose money; only six schools had positive net revenues each of the last five years, and the estimated average loss in Division I-A ballooned from $4.1 million in 2004 to $5.7 million in 2007.
C-USA schools already operate in a different financial class than those making huge money from mega TV contracts and the Bowl Championship Series. For example, the Big 12 and Southeastern Conference recently announced shared revenues of $130 million each. C-USA expects its total to be about $40 million.
"Our universities are challenged; they have to work harder to stay competitive," Banowsky said. "If you really compare how well some of them do, it's remarkable."
The sticking point in all of C-USA's cutbacks was not relinquishing competitive advantage. For example, the league didn't want scheduling changes in basketball and volleyball to harm Rating Percentage Indexes. Football coaches voiced concern travel limits would be used against them in recruiting.
"We are competitive by nature, and so our minds aren't wired to unilaterally disarm," Banowsky said.
"There's a lot of rhetoric right now [nationally] about the need to contain costs, but when you peel back, what you find are some very modest efforts coupled with a national discussion."
To wit, the Pacific-10 is expected to lead the way in supporting cost-containment measures that the NCAA would implement on a nationwide level, as to avoid competitive disadvantage. The Big 12 has voiced support for some national moves.
Measures discussed include cutting off-season foreign tours and regional track championships, eliminating nontraditional seasons – such as baseball in the fall – and prohibiting home football teams staying in hotels the night before a game.
"There's some things that have grown up over time that are unnecessary but that cost money," said Dr. R. Gerald Turner, SMU president and co-chair of the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics.
Warning signs
The Knight Commission has warned that college athletics' current model – spending is increasing much faster than revenues – soon won't be able to support itself, recession or not. But it's the economy that may force hesitant departments to pay more than lip service to cuts.
"There's the old saying, necessity is the mother of invention," Turner said. "The necessity of cutting back is being felt throughout all universities of all sizes."
For the foreseeable future, at least.
"I don't have a crystal ball, but what I'm seeing is a two-, potentially three-year pullback in a lot of areas," said Clayton Hamilton, president of the College Athletic Business Management Association. "Some of it may be by necessity and some just preparing. I do see things turning around."
At SMU, Orsini said he had already trimmed, including in nonconference scheduling. C-USA's moves helped him in areas that he previously couldn't control.
Despite the staff reductions, Orsini said he feels SMU is in line with the rest of C-USA and has an adequate staff.
SMU is in the midst of a five-year plan to reduce the amount the university subsidizes the athletic department.
"With corporate spending and marketing decreasing," Turner said "it just makes for a very difficult time."
WHAT OTHER LEAGUES ARE DOING
ACC: Football travel teams will be limited to 72 players for conference road games; the 2010 baseball tournament will be held in Greensboro, N.C., instead of Boston's Fenway Park; coaches want the league to lobby for an early signing period in football, reducing the work of retaining already committed recruits until they sign national letters of intent.
Big Ten: Gifts for athletes at the league basketball tournament and other events will be eliminated.
Big 12: The conference supports national legislation on some cost-containment measures, such as eliminating regional track and field championships, nontraditional playing seasons and foreign travel.
Mountain West: The budget for the conference office and operations was reduced, corresponding to actions on its schools campuses; basketball media days were slimmed down; officiating fees were frozen in all sports
Pac-10: The conference is considering tightening travel team limits and eliminating gifts at conference tournaments and banquets; it may lead national legislation on several fronts
Across the board: Most leagues are advocating videoconferencing instead of in-person meetings and reducing the number of printed media guides.
Sources: USA Today, wire reports, DMN research
C-USA'S COST-CUTTING MEASURES
• Reduced size of team travel parties in several sports, including football (66)
• Modified regular-season scheduling to reduce days on the road for baseball and women's soccer. Still under discussion is going to divisional play in men's and women's basketball for the 2010-11 seasons. Increasing the number of games to 18 from 16 would allow for fewer consecutive games on the road.
• Reduced number of teams participating in postseason championships: women's soccer (6), baseball (6), men's soccer (4), softball (8), volleyball (8). The volleyball championships could be eliminated for the 2010 season.
• Combined the 2010 men's and women's basketball tournaments during March 10-13 at the BOK Center and Reynolds Center in Tulsa.
• Planned a minimum 4 percent reduction in the conference operating budget, including a hiring freeze.
10:22 PM CDT on Tuesday, June 2, 2009
By KATE HAIROPOULOS / The Dallas Morning News
[email protected]
Even the beachside Destin, Fla., setting couldn't camouflage what Conference USA athletic directors, administrators and football and basketball coaches faced at their recent spring meetings.
This much was clear: "The atmosphere down there from the whole group was that we've got to do something," SMU athletic director Steve Orsini said.
Earlier, all 12 C-USA schools had been told to make athletic budget cuts, totaling more than $10 million. Now the Irving-based conference was prepared to help the schools identify cuts at the league level expected to save at least another half-million dollars.
College athletics aren't immune to today's brutal economics, and schools are already feeling or predicting pain from loss of state funding, lower return on endowments and a decrease in alumni giving, corporate spending and licensing revenues.
While some schools in power conferences are also feeling crunched, C-USA schools' budgets are already inherently smaller than the big guys'. They spend annually less than one-third of what powerhouses such as Texas or Ohio State do.
At SMU, as part of institution-wide pullbacks, 10 positions were cut in athletics, leaving a staff of 120. A cap was placed on the number of athletes enrolled in summer school. No C-USA schools cut teams, which has been the answer elsewhere.
As a league, C-USA's cuts – some of the most significant in college sports to date, commissioner Britton Banowsky said – focused on altering conference schedules to reduce travel. That's one of the biggest ways it can help its schools, which stretch from Greenville, N.C., to El Paso. The league also reduced the number of teams that will qualify for postseason tournaments and the size of team travel squads, including football from 70 to 66.
C-USA's presidents and chancellors approved the recommendations from the Destin meetings after convening Monday in Dallas.
"We initiated a process in January when we saw what the economy was doing, and we saw the pain our universities were experiencing," Banowsky said last week. "We wanted to try to make a difference."
Losses abound
Still, a league can do only so much. The heftiest costs to an athletic department are on campus, from coaches' salaries, staff and scholarships. Most departments nationally already lose money; only six schools had positive net revenues each of the last five years, and the estimated average loss in Division I-A ballooned from $4.1 million in 2004 to $5.7 million in 2007.
C-USA schools already operate in a different financial class than those making huge money from mega TV contracts and the Bowl Championship Series. For example, the Big 12 and Southeastern Conference recently announced shared revenues of $130 million each. C-USA expects its total to be about $40 million.
"Our universities are challenged; they have to work harder to stay competitive," Banowsky said. "If you really compare how well some of them do, it's remarkable."
The sticking point in all of C-USA's cutbacks was not relinquishing competitive advantage. For example, the league didn't want scheduling changes in basketball and volleyball to harm Rating Percentage Indexes. Football coaches voiced concern travel limits would be used against them in recruiting.
"We are competitive by nature, and so our minds aren't wired to unilaterally disarm," Banowsky said.
"There's a lot of rhetoric right now [nationally] about the need to contain costs, but when you peel back, what you find are some very modest efforts coupled with a national discussion."
To wit, the Pacific-10 is expected to lead the way in supporting cost-containment measures that the NCAA would implement on a nationwide level, as to avoid competitive disadvantage. The Big 12 has voiced support for some national moves.
Measures discussed include cutting off-season foreign tours and regional track championships, eliminating nontraditional seasons – such as baseball in the fall – and prohibiting home football teams staying in hotels the night before a game.
"There's some things that have grown up over time that are unnecessary but that cost money," said Dr. R. Gerald Turner, SMU president and co-chair of the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics.
Warning signs
The Knight Commission has warned that college athletics' current model – spending is increasing much faster than revenues – soon won't be able to support itself, recession or not. But it's the economy that may force hesitant departments to pay more than lip service to cuts.
"There's the old saying, necessity is the mother of invention," Turner said. "The necessity of cutting back is being felt throughout all universities of all sizes."
For the foreseeable future, at least.
"I don't have a crystal ball, but what I'm seeing is a two-, potentially three-year pullback in a lot of areas," said Clayton Hamilton, president of the College Athletic Business Management Association. "Some of it may be by necessity and some just preparing. I do see things turning around."
At SMU, Orsini said he had already trimmed, including in nonconference scheduling. C-USA's moves helped him in areas that he previously couldn't control.
Despite the staff reductions, Orsini said he feels SMU is in line with the rest of C-USA and has an adequate staff.
SMU is in the midst of a five-year plan to reduce the amount the university subsidizes the athletic department.
"With corporate spending and marketing decreasing," Turner said "it just makes for a very difficult time."
WHAT OTHER LEAGUES ARE DOING
ACC: Football travel teams will be limited to 72 players for conference road games; the 2010 baseball tournament will be held in Greensboro, N.C., instead of Boston's Fenway Park; coaches want the league to lobby for an early signing period in football, reducing the work of retaining already committed recruits until they sign national letters of intent.
Big Ten: Gifts for athletes at the league basketball tournament and other events will be eliminated.
Big 12: The conference supports national legislation on some cost-containment measures, such as eliminating regional track and field championships, nontraditional playing seasons and foreign travel.
Mountain West: The budget for the conference office and operations was reduced, corresponding to actions on its schools campuses; basketball media days were slimmed down; officiating fees were frozen in all sports
Pac-10: The conference is considering tightening travel team limits and eliminating gifts at conference tournaments and banquets; it may lead national legislation on several fronts
Across the board: Most leagues are advocating videoconferencing instead of in-person meetings and reducing the number of printed media guides.
Sources: USA Today, wire reports, DMN research
C-USA'S COST-CUTTING MEASURES
• Reduced size of team travel parties in several sports, including football (66)
• Modified regular-season scheduling to reduce days on the road for baseball and women's soccer. Still under discussion is going to divisional play in men's and women's basketball for the 2010-11 seasons. Increasing the number of games to 18 from 16 would allow for fewer consecutive games on the road.
• Reduced number of teams participating in postseason championships: women's soccer (6), baseball (6), men's soccer (4), softball (8), volleyball (8). The volleyball championships could be eliminated for the 2010 season.
• Combined the 2010 men's and women's basketball tournaments during March 10-13 at the BOK Center and Reynolds Center in Tulsa.
• Planned a minimum 4 percent reduction in the conference operating budget, including a hiring freeze.
