"The myth of the business model – that football and men’s basketball cover their own expenses and fully support non-revenue sports – is put to rest by an NCAA study finding that 94 [of the then 119 FBS] institutions ran a deficit for the 2007-08 school year, averaging losses of $9.9 million."
Within the Football Bowl Subdivision, there is a wide gap in spending from a median of $14 million in the lowest decile to $83 million in the top decile.
Total salaries and grants accounted for 48 percent of athletics expenses in 2007.
Median athletics expenses are rising at an annual rate of nearly 7 percent, but revenues aren’t keeping up.
In 2009, the National Collegiate Athletic Association published a report that found operating spending for athletics increased 43 percent between 2004 and 2008, but revenue generated by athletics programs grew only 33 percent over the same time period.
