After several years of mounting deficits in its athletics department, the chancellor of the University of New Orleans announced today that the university was considering a move from the NCAA's Division I to Division III.
"We had to reduce funding for athletics in the previous round of budget cuts, and since then the financial picture of the university and the athletics program has not improved," the chancellor, Timothy P. Ryan, said in a written statement.
A move to Division III would allow the Privateers to run a more "cost-effective" program, Mr. Ryan said. But his decision marked a distinct shift from just a few months ago, when he said the university would remain in Division I and would not consider dropping down to Division II or III.
"We're a public research university," he told The Chronicle in July. "We didn't feel that it would be appropriate for the University of New Orleans to be in one of those other divisions."
The Privateers' athletics program, with a deficit of at least $6-million, has been beset by challenges since Hurricane Katrina blew through the city four years ago. After the devastating storm, athletics officials cut several teams and struggled to rebuild severely damaged facilities. But as expenses rose, revenues dried up: The department receives most of its operating dollars from student fees, which dwindled as the university's enrollment plummeted.
Last spring, statewide budget cuts prompted university officials to eliminate a nearly $1-million annual subsidy to athletics, which amounted to roughly one-fifth of the department's $5-million operating budget. Not long after, students, in a campuswide referendum, rejected a proposal to increase student fees to cover the gap.
Athletics officials had obtained a waiver from the NCAA to remain in Division I for five years even as the university fielded far fewer than the required 14 teams. And the officials had hoped that efforts by prominent local businessmen to raise money in New Orleans, as well as a bequest from a wealthy former patron, would provide a financial boost.
But officials said on Wednesday that the fund raising "did not materialize" and the donation was "far less than anticipated," leading them to reconsider the future of the university's Division I status.
Comments
1. andrewkatz - November 11, 2009 at 03:35 pm
Gosh...I am from New Orleans, and I don't see how "stimulus" money hasn't entered the equation yet. Maybe they just need Higher Ed to throw them a fundraiser. Conferences, any volunteers for the privateers?
Excited for AFA and St. Jude's!
2. billcale - November 11, 2009 at 03:51 pm
Mark,
Just fyi. It's not all big bucks and TV contracts in D-I!
Bill
3. tpmcmahon - November 11, 2009 at 03:53 pm
"We're a public research university," he told The Chronicle in July. "We didn't feel that it would be appropriate for the University of New Orleans to be in one of those other divisions."
-U of New Orleans President
What? This is priceless. I see frequently that leaders in higher ed are some of the most gullible least discerning souls on the face of the Earth. I dare say, any university that considers its academic identity as a reflection of its athletic status, has the cart before the horse!
Tim McMahon
4. oldcommprof - November 11, 2009 at 05:14 pm
You've nailed it, Tim. Academics and athletics have nothing to do with each other and any relationship that might exist is going to be a black mark for academics. Bill's right, too: Most (80%)D-I programs, even in the bowl group, are an enormous cash drain. And ALL the second-tier D-I playoff schools are money losers. (Well, maybe a couple break even.)
5. 11272784 - November 11, 2009 at 07:16 pm
Tim might also be seeing the relationship in reverse. The visibility generated by Division I sports provides a number of revenue streams to the university - many of which will disappear if they move to Division III. I recognize that only two sports usually generate net income, and those are football and basketball, but many sports also generate sponsorships and other income sources. There is also the issue of alumni support, which like it or not will be affected by a move to a lower division. There is no single answer, I just want to point out that gullibility isn't necessarily a factor.
6. cwinton - November 11, 2009 at 10:00 pm
Make no mistake, athletics is a net fiscal drain for a very large majority of schools. Any revenue brought in is consumed (and then some) to keep afloat the house of cards characterizing the financing of many athletics programs. As for the donor base, it has become common practice to limit or even forbid academic program access to potential donors favored by the athletics program. The real gain, which I suspect is increasingly dubious, is the potential for national exposure, which in the past may have provided schools fielding championship athletic teams a cachet of quality academic programs, whatever the reality. UNO is just ahead of the curve in having to face up to the unsustainability of the monetary sinkhole so many athletic programs have become.
7. oldcommprof - November 12, 2009 at 11:23 am
Clarification, please, cwinton, on your donor base comment. What does access (as a student?) to academic programs have to do with potential donors favored by the athletics program?
I agree with what you're saying, but the meaning of that sentence just escapes me.
8. cwinton - November 12, 2009 at 12:10 pm
I didn't phrase that as well as I might have. A university may choose to limit who on campus is allowed to approach a particular donor prospect and for what purpose. The reasoning is that a prospective donor will give to the university only once; hence, the prospect is allocated to the cause likely to produce the best outcome. This might make sense except that it provides a means for limiting the approach to the interests of the athletic program if the institution so chooses, a situation that is becoming more common as athletic programs sink deeper and deeper into the red.
9. oldcommprof - November 12, 2009 at 01:15 pm
Excellent; thanks for the clarification. I agree that such a sub rosa strategy is a serious and growing threat to academics.
10. tsull - November 13, 2009 at 02:34 pm
Smart move by UNO. I'm not one of these anti-sports folk. I actually love collegiate sports and competed at the small college level. But to think every school in the country is Division I is nutty. There are 350 plus Division I basketball schools in this country. More than 100 draw less than 1,000 fans per game, about the same number have gyms of 3,000 or less. How is that Division I? And why should schools be forking out all this money on something that doesn't do that much for the university?
I think the NCAA ought to be kicking some teams out of Division I. The scramble for many of these schools just to say they're D-I is a joke. UNO will survive at D3 or D1, and if not, then it's not much of a university.