Syracuse University’s athletics department should be commended for its strong economic efficiency in the past year.

For every dollar in expenses, SU Athletics generated $1.29 in revenue. The university’s revenue-to-expense ratio was not only the best among Atlantic Coast Conference schools last year, but among all Power Five conference schools, according to government data.

The university’s skillful handling of its athletics finances is noteworthy considering the university’s overall budget problems of the past several years, generally low attendance at football games and the fact that SU is a smaller school in comparison to the larger, public institutions it faces in the ACC.

Despite these factors, in addition to a 3-9 season for the football program and a self-imposed postseason ban on the men’s basketball team last year, SU had the fifth-most revenue in the ACC at $87,175,761 and the third-lowest amount of expenses across the entire athletics department.

But these numbers should not be taken out of context. It should be understood that the idea that athletics departments are significant money generators for their respective universities is false.

The majority of schools tend to operate in the red when it comes to expenses, considering only 20 of 129 athletics programs in the Football Bowl Subdivision reported positive net revenues for the 2013 fiscal year, according to the 2014 NCAA Revenue and Expenses Report. And it is these contextual details that should emphasize that SU’s fiscal success as an effort that actively reduces the strain that comes with running the large operation that is athletics.

It is also important to acknowledge that the successes reflected by the data, which spans from July 1, 2014 to June 30, 2015, are partly the result of an athletics staff that is no longer in place due to the fact that many members left the university in the transitional period the department underwent earlier this year.

But as the dynamics change within SU Athletics, its work to maintain impressive revenue-to-expense margins must be upheld.

In moving forward with an athletics budget of about $60 million for fiscal year 2015, SU Athletics must remain conscious of the fact that a strong athletics department is one that is as efficient as possible in navigating future financial decisions.

Published on December 1, 2015 at 12:44 am

Contact: opinion@dailyorange.com