When the NCAA announced that its annual revenue distribution would be slashed by some $375 million, my first thought was about Kentucky’s non-Power Five Division I schools.
In recent years, lean state budgets for higher education had created significant challenges for the Division I athletics departments in our state that are not substantially self-sustaining — in other words, all of them except the University of Kentucky and the University of Louisville.
For Ohio Valley Conference schools such as nearby Eastern Kentucky and Morehead State, there is no lucrative SEC Network or gargantuan TV contracts with ESPN to cushion this year’s unexpected financial blow.
Total NCAA payouts to all Division I schools are slated to be a combined $225 million instead of the projected $600 million. This is mostly a result of the decision to cancel the 2020 men’s NCAA basketball tournament as part of the efforts to contain the coronavirus pandemic.
I wondered what impact that reduction might have on sports at schools such as EKU and Morehead. In speaking with each school’s athletics director, the phrases that kept coming up were “belt-tightening” and “lean year ahead.”
New EKU AD Matt Roan said: “I think, for us, our distribution from the NCAA is going to be … in total, about 75% less than it was last year. Certainly, there are some variances year-to-year, but never quite as extreme as that.”
The reduced payout from the NCAA is “going to provide a challenge for us,” Morehead State AD Jaime Gordon said.
“But (NCAA distributions are) just part of our revenue. There are a lot of other concerns based on what the future holds as a result of this health crisis. We rely on sponsorships, ticket revenue, TV contracts, so there’s a lot of uncertainty in the future right now and the NCAA distribution is just a part of it.”
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Assuming there will ultimately be a college sports year in 2020-21, both Gordon and Roan said the priority will be to protect a “Division I student-athlete experience” for players in all sports while also accommodating a new economic reality.
What might that look like?
“Maybe we hold onto (team) uniforms a year longer,” said Gordon, who is also Morehead State’s longtime volleyball coach. “Maybe we don’t travel in the same way we have been accustomed to.”
EKU’s Roan said cost-saving options could include “the idea of making your (road trip) travel a little more regional than its been in years past. Forgoing that new uniform set. Just tightening the belt a notch or two.”
Spending reductions seem likely to also come at the conference level. As a result of the reduced NCAA payouts, OVC Commissioner Beth DeBauche said the league is brainstorming for cost-saving measures it can implement.
Among moves the OVC is considering, DeBauche said, is eliminating as many in-person meetings that require administrative travel as possible. The goal would be to reduce administrative expenses “so we can free up (resources) to still run quality championships for our student athletes,” she said.
Those championship formats might also be altered.
“I would not be surprised across Division I if we see conferences looking at how they manage their (league) championships for a year,” DeBauche said. “Do we have more campus sites? Do we try to run a more condensed version — the same number of (league tournament) games over a shorter period of days?”
DeBauche also thinks spending on “niceties” such as “signage and branding (materials) will have to go by the wayside.”
From her discussions with league ADs, DeBauche said she does not believe any OVC schools have any imminent intent to cut the number of sports they offer in response to the current financial uncertainty.
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The first variable in evaluating the financial impact that the coronavirus pandemic and the battle to contain it will ultimately have on college sports is how long the efforts to stop the virus will need to continue.
If the shutdown of most economic activities and the closings of college campuses extend so long that the 2020 college football season is imperiled then the affect on the budgets of many athletics departments will become far more severe.
“What does this thing look like the farther it goes?” EKU’s Roan said. “Does it get into football season? Does it at least get into the non-conference part of football season? That’s what we are trying to wrap our minds around now.”
At Eastern, Roan said “a lot more” fundraising that is tied to season ticket sales is connected to football than to other sports.
A second uncertainty is what the broader economy does once the coronavirus is contained and the government-mandated shutdowns of businesses are rescinded.
Once unshackled, does the economy roar back to life? Or are we looking at an extended period of economic stagnation?
The answer to that question will determine just how tight belts will have to get for athletics departments at schools such as Morehead and Eastern.
“I am an optimist at heart,” Morehead State’s Gordon said. “So I am approaching this, as are my colleagues, we are very hopeful this is a one-year challenge. So we are approaching it in ways that we can make some reductions on the short term.”
Said EKU’s Roan: “The fear is in the unknown. … So I’m just hoping the summer brings back what we call ‘normal.’”
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