The Impact of Intercollegiate Athletics Financial Inequalities

Abstract

Inequality within intercollegiate athletics has roots as deep as the enterprise itself. From a macro perspective, financial inequality in intercollegiate athletics stems from free-market forces influencing intercollegiate athletics, specifically the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), television broadcasting, and the Bowl Championship Series (BCS). Because the NCAA operates on behalf of its member institutions, these inequalities trickle down to all conferences, universities, and athletic programs, to specific sports, and finally to student-athletes. The goal of this paper is to respond to Zimbalist (2013), add to the conversation about financial inequality in intercollegiate athletics, and describe how national inequalities translate into inequalities on campus. An analysis of the structure of intercollegiate athletics that perpetuates these inequalities is presented, ActivityBased Costing (ABC) is introduced, and practical ideas to assist in creating a more financially equitable model of intercollegiate athletics are presented. Inequality within intercollegiate athletics has roots as deep as the enterprise itself. From a macro perspective, financial inequality in intercollegiate athletics stems from free-market forces influencing intercollegiate athletics, specifically the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), television broadcasting, and the Bowl Championship Series (BCS). Because the NCAA operates on behalf of its member institutions, these inequalities trickle down to all conferences, universities, and athletic programs, to specific sports, and finally to student-athletes. Conference executives are charged with putting their member institutions in the best possible position for success and the free market reigns, with some conferences substantially more valuable than others. The BCS operates in the best interest of the Power Conferences (SEC, Big Ten, Pac-12, Big 12, and ACC) and certainly considers the new Group of Five (Big East, Mountain West, Conference USA, MAC, and Sun Belt), resulting in a smaller group of conferences and institutions that are directly affected by their operations. But, in reality, all colleges that compete in the NCAA are indirectly affected by the BCS. As in any free market, many factors exist that affect the value of institutions and conferences, such as competitive success, geographic region, tax status, overall brand strength, history, and religious affiliation. Decision-making and priorities along the way are critical components of any discussion on college athletics finance, and this is where NCAA, conferences, BCS,