Old Tiger
05-09-2013, 12:27 AM
Texas A&M's program went from getting no subsidy in 2010 and less than $10,000 in 2011 to getting $5.2 million in 2012 – a year in which the program generated $32.7 million more than it spent. The surplus was mainly attributable to a $35.3 million, one-year increase in contributions, most of which was tied to facilities projects, athletics director Eric Hyman said.
Meanwhile, because of its move to the Southeastern Conference from the Big 12, A&M lost its share of Big 12 revenues before beginning to receive an SEC revenue share. The athletics department was able to cover about $4.1 of what athletics CFO Jeff Toole said was a $9.3 million funding gap. The university provided the remaining $5.2 million in the form of an interest-free loan that athletics department will have 10 years to repay.
Other schools with self-sufficient athletics programs have been following through with planned efforts to reduce subsidies.
They just couldn't pay their bills last year without getting yet another interest free loan from the academic side (they still haven't even completely paid off the interest free loan they took out a few years back) and they are making so much from being in the SEC ($14.6 mil/ year in T1/T2 money) that they need 10 years to pay back the money they had to borrow (which is about the same amount Texas athletics gifts to the academic side each year).
The academic side and the athletics department are separate accounting entities. The ags aren't giving themselves interest free loans, they are transferring funds from one entity to another. They did the same thing last time they couldn't pay their bills 6 or 8 years ago. The ags have a lot of traditions, one of them is their athletics department being able to pay its bills. I'm sure this will all change when they execute their half billion dollar plan to build a stadium to compete with the one we just paid $390 million to upgrade.
Meanwhile, because of its move to the Southeastern Conference from the Big 12, A&M lost its share of Big 12 revenues before beginning to receive an SEC revenue share. The athletics department was able to cover about $4.1 of what athletics CFO Jeff Toole said was a $9.3 million funding gap. The university provided the remaining $5.2 million in the form of an interest-free loan that athletics department will have 10 years to repay.
Other schools with self-sufficient athletics programs have been following through with planned efforts to reduce subsidies.
They just couldn't pay their bills last year without getting yet another interest free loan from the academic side (they still haven't even completely paid off the interest free loan they took out a few years back) and they are making so much from being in the SEC ($14.6 mil/ year in T1/T2 money) that they need 10 years to pay back the money they had to borrow (which is about the same amount Texas athletics gifts to the academic side each year).
The academic side and the athletics department are separate accounting entities. The ags aren't giving themselves interest free loans, they are transferring funds from one entity to another. They did the same thing last time they couldn't pay their bills 6 or 8 years ago. The ags have a lot of traditions, one of them is their athletics department being able to pay its bills. I'm sure this will all change when they execute their half billion dollar plan to build a stadium to compete with the one we just paid $390 million to upgrade.