Money!

[rynobuff]

So I'm not really sure nor do I pay much attention... but how are we money wise for the next few years. I know we have been one of the most cash strapped AD's in the country, and the DH buyout and the Big12 buyout can't have helped. But with the new pac 12 tv contract and possible new donors from Cai, etc. Are we really in that bad of shape? Where are we in relation to other BCS programs... obviously we are not Tennessee or Oregon, but how about compared to Purdue, or Utah, or Pitt, or UK, etc.

 

[ScottyBuff]

Still going to be cash-strapped until at least June 2013 when the Pac-12 distributions kick in.

No word yet on how much donations have increased to the AD from the Cali boosters, but early signs are positive.

Basically, I think it will probably take 3-5 years before we can dig ourselves out of the current state and start putting the new money into positive long-term uses.

Utah was balancing an athletic budget about 60% the size of CU's and doing it just fine. They will take longer to get "vested" in Pac-12 revenue distributions, but for them it will be all gravy once the cash starts rolling in.

Purdue is a good example for CU but they haven't had to buyout 2 consecutive coaches and pay a conference exit fee on top of that. Once the Pac-12 new TV contract starts paying out and the Pac-12 Network distributions roll in we should be above Purdue and Minnesota.

I think in 3-5 years we should be passing Missouri and North Carolina, and be comparing ourselves to Iowa, Michigan State, and Virginia budget-wise.

 

[MiamiBuffs]

Were still paying back the loan for the stadium expansion too

 

[GoBeers]

Not sure comparing to Virgina or UNC is appropriate for CU in the near future. They run $70+ million budgets compared to CU's $48 million, and were talking no institutional support (CU is listed at 5.5 mil... not sure how exactly that is tallied).

Their conference shares were $12 million compared to CU's $10 million. CU will never have the donation levels of UVA or UNC realistically.

(budget numbers are 2009-10 from http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/ncaa-finances.htm)

Purdue had a $58 million budget and Minnesota a $78 million budget (where the hell did that all go? must be some expenses with the stadium?). Michigan State was at $81 million in revenue and Iowa $88 million. Wow.

Football only costs $20-30 million at even the biggest spending schools, so that's a lot of extra money. I think I saw somewhere that CU was spending in the $12-15 million range, which is really doing it on the cheap, even compared to the Pac 10.

CU has a huge advantage for the time being - it carries a smaller number of sports. Untill the warchest is built up, it doesn't seem prudent to add sports unless Title IX need arises for some reason.

2012 Pac 12 TV money will only be ~$15-16 million, so it's not a huge boost on the $9-10 mil CU was getting as part of the B12. The contract escalates every year, so it will be much larger pretty quickly, but the real big numbers come in 2020-2023.... hope the conference makes it that far in it's current state. The contract seems to be poartially an anomoy driven by cable TV's desire for live programming to fend off streaming video - who knows if that money will be around in 2024? I really hope the Pac schools are prudent with this money. P12 network could take a couple of years to really overcome startup costs, but an extra $8-10 mil after that is not out of the question. Every school should be putting $10 million away per year into an endowment to fund future activities IMO. Still plenty left after that to build some new facilities or pay a coach or two.

 

[ScottyBuff]

I guess I had an older (lower) figure for Iowa, Minny, Virginia, and Michigan State (between 60 and 70 mil).

CU will see a bump in donations with the move to the Pac-12, I'm guessing at a 20% increase.

Looking at just revenues, CU reported almost $10mil in NCAA/Conference/TV rights income, from most estimates I've seen the new Pac-12 deal will exceed $20mil even in the 2nd/3rd years and possibly get to $25mil quicker than expected. The Big Ten Network was "profitable" in year 2 and they had much higher costs to startup and much longer distribution times. The Pac-12 Network is starting out of the gate with what looks to be a profitable startup season, and 100% goes back to the conference, not 51% like the BTN.

That $10-15 million difference, plus at least a $2 million bump in donations, should put CU's revenues around $60-65 million, not withstanding any increases in ticket sales for football/basketball.

The point about reserving some of those funds into endowments for future expenses is a good one.

 

[DBT]

It sounds like the plan is to take care of outstanding debt before anything else.

 

[MtnBuff]

Short term we are very tight, this is part of the reason (or almost all of the reason) Bohn took the money game with Ohio State. Fortunately for whatever other complaints we have with him Bohn seems to be very good with the financial end of the business.

A big, but overlooked part of all this is not football related. A lot of the schools mentioned above have a completely different situation because of basketball. UNC, Virginia, Purdue, even Minnesota have basketball programs that generate significant profits. CU in recent years has been losing money on the sport and subsidizing it out of football.

Last year basketball made a significant jump forward both on the court and in the ticket booth for CU. If Tad can keep the momentum going and we can replace the 2-3 million a year loss in basketball in some recent seasons with even a profit of $500,000 it will make a big difference. Also Lappe can help out a lot as well. Very few women's programs make money but history has shown that when the Buff women are winning people will turn out. If the product on the floor can bring in a couple of thousand fans a game or even a thousand extra bringing WBB closer to breaking even it will help the entire athletic program significantly.