To fix ECU athletics, just win at football

ECU's Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium always needs to be
at full capacity to balance the Pirate's athletics budget

The News & Observer columnist Luke DeCock’s analysis—Cutting tennis, swimming could cost East Carolina more money than it will save (N&O, May 21)—of East Carolina’s damned-if-you-do and damned-if-you-don’t dismissal of four intercollegiate teams—men’s and women’s swimming and tennis—as a start to bring its athletics budget into balance hit several nails on the head of what’s wrong with college athletics today. DeCock told us without really telling us.

On one hand, intercollegiate athletics everywhere are just too big, even at East Carolina and even at my alma mater, N.C. State University, where there are more than 30 deputy, senior associate, associate and assistant athletics directors to support 21 varsity sports teams. (I'm not playing favorites here.) There are too many sports teams, too many student-athletes, too many over-built monuments (playing facilities), too many inflated salaries of overpaid coaches, and too many athletics administrators with inflated salaries, to say the least. Those examples fit into one way of what’s wrong with intercollegiate athletics.

On the other hand, colleges and universities, for the most part, must have big-time intercollegiate athletics to help balance the overall institutional budget because athletics booster club donations pay the educational freight at full price. There are no price reductions for tuition and fees of athletes. It's not a case of robbing Peter to pay Paul. Paying athletics scholarships is an essential form of making up for university financial short-falls because of over-spending on the academic "side of the tracks." Nary a university can say it could do away with athletics and be okay with its entire budget. When the non-athletic aspect of a university depends on athletics to balance its budget, that’s another way of what’s wrong with intercollegiate athletics. It is the tail wagging the dog.

Specifically, at ECU, it’s doubtful swimming makes money, a positive revenue stream, as suggested by sports economist Andy Schwarz, in DeCock’s analysis. Take the overall expense of the men’s and women’s swimming teams, including salaries, operation of and upkeep of facilities, scholarship expenses et al and compare it against total ticket and television income for swimming (probably zero, if not close to zero) and you’ll find deficit spending at its best. Same is true for the two tennis programs at ECU. But this is not unique to ECU where football, when it's not bleeding dollars, pays the tab for all other sports.

At this very moment, it’s doubtful any of the athletics teams at East Carolina have a positive cash flow including football, the holy grail of Pirates sports, and baseball, probably the second most "profitable" sport there. That’s why there are athletics cost-cutting measures underway at ECU and at many other colleges and universities, including the Power 5 conference programs.

Over several years, there has been ample discussion of the Power 5 conferences—Atlantic Coast, Southeastern, Big Ten, Big 12 and Pac-12—along with Notre Dame breaking away from the NCAA because of finances and regulations. A limit of 12 competing sports (six men and six women) teams has been part of the talks, so the schools involved could sustain their athletics programs without infringing on university budgets. Imagine the sports cut out and, in many cases, returning 10 or 12 teams to the club level, away from the athletics department control and into the hands of the academics who will then have to decide on financial support, or not.

The coronavirus pandemic is causing financial problems on university campuses as a whole and specifically in their athletics departments. And, it's not going to get any easier any time soon, even after the miraculous solution of doing away with COVID-19. The example of East Carolina is front and center because ECU athletics just so happens to have a negative financial situation that’s been brewing for several years, mostly because of a down-trodden football program, a result of bad athletics management. The solution to ECU's problems is two-fold: academics and athletics.

East Carolina should have full academic enrollment and not rely on its intercollegiate athletics program to fill space in the classroom, thereby not relying on the Pirate Club to foot the education bill. For some reason, having full enrollment in Greenville has not been attainable. The UNC system Board of Governors and the ECU Board of Trustees need to figure out why. Maybe, just maybe, ECU is living beyond its means, offering more academic programs than it should just to make name for itself. That is probably true all across the UNC system.

The other solution for ECU's woes is simple but complex: just win more football games. In doing so, ticket sales will increase; donations to the Pirate Cub will rise to better levels. The Olympic sports such as swimming and tennis will get the financial support needed to operate at smaller deficits, and all will be good in Greenville. In reality, the fate of East Carolina athletics rests squarely with its football program. Just win, baby! But even that, without a major television package to drive the program, winning in football may not be enough for ECU.