One of the things I hear the most from students is “How and why does James Franklin make millions of dollars a year?” And it’s a fair question, especially when you hear news about budget constraints affecting your student experience, such as the decision to no longer fund the Center for Racial Justice.

Intercollegiate Athletics at Penn State funds itself. They get their money mostly from ticket sales, restricted donations, Big Ten/NCAA, licensing, and sponsorships. Huge investments in things like renovations to the Lasch Football Building are often funded with debt that must be paid by ICA and approved by the University Board of Trustees.

That being said, it can still be a controversial topic amongst the Board of Trustees and other University leaders. Many feel that the success of the football program trickles down to other aspects of the University, including student recruitment. For example, football games bring back alumni and community members who reconnect with the University’s mission and are therefore more likely to donate. In order to have good teams, you have to pay a fair-market value salary for good coaches which is why James Franklin is a big cost but viewed as a necessary investment. The football program’s revenue also supports most of the other athletic programs at University Park where we have 29 NCAA Division I teams. Across all 20 Penn State undergraduate campuses, there are more than 75 competitive NCAA Division III teams. Source

Others feel like even though no tuition dollars or general funds are being used to finance ICA, athletic program donors could be convinced to shift their donations elsewhere. There is truth to that too, but it would be hard to predict whether donors would actually shift their giving if ICA no longer accepted donations and determine the impact that would have on not just the success but also the existence of some athletic programs.

Although rare, some athletic programs actually give back to their University (meaning that they donate back to the general funds account that is supported by tuition, appropriations, etc.). Penn State’s athletic program is one of few that actually makes a profit without student initiated fees and tuition fees supporting it; less than one in four of the 97 public NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision athletic departments generated more money than they spent in any given year between 2005 and 2010. This is a really interesting article about trends in athletic versus academic spending.

To bring it back to student advocacy and the navigation of the budget: conversations about the Center for Racial Justice and other equity initiatives should still continue, and by no means does athletics’ separate funding model mean that there is no leverage for the conversation about how we prioritize things in the budget. When I have seen myself and others be most effective as advocates though, it’s helpful to start with clearing the air with what you already know about the budget decision making process so that people can’t spend time breaking it down to you to replace productive and progressive discussion about what action steps are.

We must proactively advocate for Intercollegiate Athletics to fund itself without tuition and fees support. Things might change in the next few years, and it is much harder for students to stand against a decision to fund athletics with our tuition dollars than it is to advocate for things to stay as they are, proactively.