Valpo's other "Revenue" sports

[vu72]

Now that football and volleyball have wrapped up their home slates, I thought it would be interesting to see how many fans came to games and what revenue was generated by same.  Obviously, I don't have a clue on concession revenues and am guessing about how many fans actually paid to get in.

So football drew 11,264 fans over five games for an average of 2253 with a high of 4605 for Homecoming and a low last Saturday of 1150.  If you assume 75% were paying ticket buyers, that means football generated $84,480 at $10 per ticket.

Volleyball drew 6,306 fans over 12 dates for an average of 526 with a high of 824 and a low of 189.  Again, assuming a 75% buy rate, volleyball produced $47,295 of ticket revenue.

Nothing profound here, just some interesting stats (for me!)

[usc4valpo]

What is the return on assets for both sports?

[VULB#62]

What is the return on assets for both sports?

Balls, helmets, knee pads and nets?   You mean ROI, right?  It's more than assets, it's investment in terms of scholarships (when applicable), travel costs, coaches salaries, etc., etc.?

Bottom line when you look at ROI for any sport including MBB, I am positive we are running a deficit in every sport.  But that is the cost of athletics for any college outside of the OSUs, Dukes, UNCs of this world.  As an FCS/mid-major, if you can't draw an average of 25K to your home FB games and 17K to MBB games all athletics have to be subsidized. I'll bet the travel budget alone for Volleyball is higher than the $47,295 estimated gate.  And when you fly 45 - 60 players, coaches and staff to Marist and Stetson like we are in 2018, you are gonna spend $84,480 pretty darned fast when you remember to include rooms and meals not to mention the charter buses at the destination.

[vu72]

What is the return on assets for both sports?

Based on the average net revenue per student after aid, it looks like Valpo receives about $24,000 per student.  Football has 105 on the roster and because it is a non-scholarship program, 105 X $24,000 = $2,520,000 plus the ticket revenue of $84,480 brings the total in up to $2,604,480.  So what are the expenses? 

As for Volleyball, there are 14 full scholarship players.  If the average lost revenue is $24,000 then it cost Valpo $336,000 less revenue of $47,295 less expenses.

Obviously, flying  a football team to Florida, New York and North Carolina or in most years to California, can be pretty pricey.  Football also has 10 coaches versus 3 for Volleyball.  As important is having 105 more males on campus to keep the ratio in line.

Hard to imagine football in a money maker even given the non-scholarship nature of the program.

[usc4valpo]

but the program brings in students who pay to play, thus mo money for the school. Interesting discussion.

[VULB#62]

Yes, non revenue sports attract athletes who fill admission slots. However, many athletes fill slots that otherwise might have gone to non-athletes. So I think the argument that athletes bring in students who otherwise might leave admission slots unfilled by going somewhere else might not be totally correct. We accept a large percentage of applicants, so the ~600 slots occupied by athletes could be filled. But what a boring place Valpo would be. IMO, with or without sports Valpo would probably still be at about 3,000 undergrads, but it would be a totally different experience — one I would personally reject.

But Valpo doesn't have in its constitution that it will forever be a boring Lutheran-only campus that only focuses on academics. So here we are. Part of the incoming cash flow is devoted to providing a wonderfully diverse environment where students can explore more than what is in the classroom. Ergo all sports are subsidized to afford this.

Penn State can justify intercollegiate sports because they pay for themselves. But that's another story.