Three years ago, Oklahoma State's football team wasn't bowl eligible. Then oil billionaire T. Boone Pickens donated $165 million to its athletic department.
Fast forward to Oct. 19, 2008. The Cowboys were 7-0 and ranked sixth in the initial BCS standings -- nipping on the heels of No. 5 USC.
Coincidence? Maybe not.
The next day, the New York Times ran a story that Pickens' hedge fund had taken a major blow and that construction at Oklahoma State was being held up. The Cowboys lost two of their next three games.
Coincidence? Of course. But it's tempting to think about the correlation.
In reality, the nation's economic slump has (or will) hit most universities. All types of donors, whether they want their name on a building or just tickets to a game, are feeling the squeeze. The Times article goes on to discuss concerns at athletic departments in Oklahoma, Kansas and Texas. A couple of weeks later, they ran a story on how the situation is hurting schools in general.
The effect at USC, specifically with athletics, has yet to play out. "It's hard to gauge," said Associate Athletic Director Ron Orr. "In annual giving, compared to where we were last year (and we've only completed one quarter), we're even or a little bit ahead. I anticipate there will be a drop-off, but it's too early to tell."
Renewals are many months away and donors have already received primary benefits like tickets and parking. There is at least one indicator available -- and it looks positive. Support group members have to be current on their dues in order to get bowl tickets. So far, those seem to be on schedule. It can't hurt that USC is barreling toward another BCS bid.
Orr said that the athletic department's most recent capital campaign, for the Galen Center, was fully covered by pledges and that those payments were also coming in on schedule. No timeline has been announced on any other major project. Officials have been discussing an expansion of Heritage Hall for a while, but it's unclear how or if that could be affected by the economic downturn.
"We're not the gas company, we're the entertainment dollars," Orr summed up. "I'm sure when people have to make some decisions, it's going to be tight. Where we fall in that, who knows? I think that people love USC football and they're going to try and keep their tickets where they are and keep their donations going. We'll work with them. Since we're not the gas company, we're not going to turn out the lights! We'll work with the people that have been here a long time and can make a payment."
-- Adam Rose
USC makes millions on football. Other sports? Not so much.
From July 2007 through June 2008, USC's athletics budget came in at just over $76 million. No surprise, football grossed the highest of any sport with over $28 million in revenue, followed by men's basketball at just shy of $4.5 million and baseball with almost $1.9 million. The women's sport with the highest revenue was golf, at $311,633, good for sixth overall at USC.
Of course, the numbers have a different feel when you look at net profit, where football was the only sport making money.
A majority of revenue was classified by the school as "not allocated by gender/sport" because it comes from general athletic support groups. Memberships to Cardinal and Gold or The Committee aren't tied to one sport and the school isn't making any assumptions about that (we'll leave it up to you). Unallocated expenses include overhead and general services (legal, public relations, etc.). Here's how it all breaks down: | Sport |
Revenue |
Total Expenses |
Net Profit |
 |
| Not allocated |
$39,064,294 |
$30,995,159 |
$8,069,135 |
| Football |
28,595,881 |
20,963,700 |
7,632,181 |
| M Track/Field (Indoor) |
2,000 |
2,000 |
0 |
| W Track/Field (Indoor) |
5,000 |
6,000 |
-1,000 |
| W X Country |
2,000 |
4,000 |
-2,000 |
| M Basketball |
4,457,028 |
4,764,822 |
-307,794 |
| M Water Polo |
122,602 |
608,166 |
-485,564 |
| M Golf |
331,298 |
855,380 |
-524,082 |
| M Volleyball |
164,108 |
740,666 |
-576,558 |
| W Water Polo |
122,602 |
709,284 |
-586,682 |
| M Tennis |
319,923 |
935,302 |
-615,379 |
| W Golf |
311,633 |
972,018 |
-660,385 |
| W Tennis |
181,380 |
914,167 |
-732,787 |
| W Swim/Dive |
195,734 |
1,043,370 |
-847,636 |
| M Swim/Dive |
50,502 |
1,011,329 |
-960,827 |
| M Track/Field (Outdoor) |
30,334 |
1,063,805 |
-1,033,471 |
| W Track/Field (Outdoor) |
73,707 |
1,258,530 |
-1,184,823 |
| W Soccer |
26,604 |
1,245,924 |
-1,219,320 |
| Baseball |
1,888,722 |
3,153,795 |
-1,265,073 |
| W Rowing |
108,317 |
1,497,258 |
-1,388,941 |
| W Volleyball |
162,104 |
1,631,036 |
-1,468,932 |
| W Basketball |
194,146 |
2,036,208 |
-1,842,062 |
|
| TOTALS |
76,409,919 |
76,409,919 |
0 |
The revenue and expense figures come from an annual filing the school made today in compliance with the Equity in Athletics Disclosure Act. The reports were originally designed to help gauge the success of Title IX. Excluding football and basketball, USC's women's sports brought in about 40% of what the men's sports did. At the same time, the school spent almost $1 million more on women's sports than men's.
Also worth noting, the school spent $653,894 on recruiting for men's sports and $317,873 on women's sports. Out of 21 head coaches last year, only one was a woman.
USC had 649 student-athletes in 2007-08.
-- Adam Rose
 USC's latest tax returns are out, and once again we can take a glimpse into the wallets of the university's highest earners. There's a newcomer in the top five: assistant football coach Steve Sarkisian.
The most eye-catching number is that Pete Carroll was the first
college football coach to breach the $4 million mark. Last year, Nick
Saban signed a similar deal at Alabama that caused a lot of public debate and
discussion of a Congressional inquiry. Carroll was already making that -- plus
10% -- a season earlier.
If you ask Forbes Magazine, Carroll is actually underpaid by 14%.
These numbers are from USC's 2006 IRS 990 filing. In plain English, that covers the 2006-07 academic year. As a private institution, the school does not have to release contract information and other details (as most public schools do).
1. Pete Carroll - Head Football Coach
- Compensation: $3,953,648
- Contributions to Employee Benefit Plans: $84,566
- Expense Account: $20,672
- Excluded from compensation is $377,500 paid to a deferred compensation plan.
- Total 2006-07 package: $4,436,386
2. Tim Floyd - Head Basketball Coach
- Compensation: $971,264
- Contributions to Employee Benefit Plans: $61,019
- Expense Account: $6,328
- Excluded from compensation is $62,500 paid to a deferred compensation plan.
- Total 2006-07 package: $1,101,111
Read on »
[Do you] think USC would actually move to the Rose Bowl? -- Scott
I doubt it, especially after seeing one of the ploys the school used last week. Remember that this is just about dividing up money and power. Regardless of who "wins" on that end, everybody will lose if USC winds up in Pasadena. The school, Coliseum Commission, local community, Rose Bowl, and even UCLA are united behind keeping the Trojans in Exposition Park.
What ploy caught my attention? After the Coliseum Commission meeting, a USC representative promised to sign an offer from the Rose Bowl as soon as it was on the table -- potentially the following day.
But the next day, a different USC representative acknowledged that they were aware the offer needed UCLA's approval. Translation: "This isn't possible for another few weeks."
Suddenly the threat wasn't as serious. But in the few hours the elapsed between those statements, USC forced the Coliseum Commission to begin negotiating from a weakened position. Talk about shrewd tactics!
Even if this backfires, USC would only be gone for a year. UCLA won't agree to more than that (they have the right of first refusal at the Rose Bowl), and USC can't find anywhere else that seats 90,000+. After one season, USC will have made its point and the parties will have figured out how to return the Trojans to the Coliseum.
Any word on why the Coliseum lights went out so early after the UCLA game? The band was still playing and I was just outside (only 20 minutes after the end of the game) when half the lights were turned off. -- Bobak
No conspiracy theory necessary. When the lights go down in the city ... it's frequently a car hitting a transformer. We're not sure if that's exactly what happened in this case, but a representative for the Coliseum confirmed that the lights went off early due to a local power outage. It started somewhere well outside the perimeter of the stadium and affected a lot of Exposition Park and the surrounding neighborhood. The Coliseum's sign off the 110 Freeway went down, too.
Some lights were powered by backup generators, so there was ample lumination for people leaving the area. Though stadium officials haven't dealt with a situation like that mid-game, presumably they could get backup power turned on fast enough to finish playing. If not, maybe that's one of the renovations that should be done.
Which Hollywood starlet reportedly slept with the entire USC football team? -- David
This seems like a Matt Leinart joke in reverse. Anyway, Kenneth Anger's "Hollywood Babylon" reportedly said Clara Bow was the Trojans' biggest, um, fan back in the 1920s. Snopes says it's not true. I'm inclined to believe the latter.
Plenty more after the jump, including Reggie Bush and the NCAA Death Penalty, Mark Sanchez vs. Mitch Mustain, the Sears Cup and Lexus Gauntlet, and Hershel Dennis and Championship Streaks ...
Read on »
 Recruiting just got even easier for Pete Carroll and Tim Floyd.
It's already alluring to go where Snoop Dogg, Suge Knight, and Will Ferrell roam the sidelines.
Master P and Donald Faison recently came to Midnight Madness.
A break from training camp looks like this.
It's a college campus with near-perfect weather and manicured, well, everything. One popular college football blog runs a weekly column entitled "Pete Carroll's Enchanted Gridiron Grotto."
And speaking of grottoes, Hugh Hefner just gave $2 million to the school of Cinematic Arts. The school already has a censorship class and the Chair for the Study of American Film named after the Playboy mogul. Now his name is going up on "a central exhibition space."
But that would never cross the mind of an 17-year-old high school boy, would it?
[Note: A certain blogger has been under the weather the past couple days ... more on the BCS and hoops coming up soon.]
Photo by Richard Hartog / LAT
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