The NCAA News - News Features

Male/female expenses in III highly affected by football

According to the Division III version of the NCAA's periodic study of revenues and expenses, 49 percent of the expenditures of Division III institutions with varsity football teams were made on men's programs while 26 percent were made on women's. The remaining expenditures were not ascribable to either gender.

However, in programs without football, 38 percent of expenditures were for the women's program and 31 percent for the men, with 31 percent nongender. That figure is distorted somewhat by the presence of several all-female institutions that have no expenses for men's sports.

The figures -- taken from the 1994-95 fiscal year -- are consistent with what was found in the 1993 study, when the expense percentages for Division III athletics programs with football were 48 percent for men, 23 percent for women and 29 percent nonattributable. For those programs without football, the percentages were 32, 41 and 28.

Overall, the average Division III program spent $261,500 on men's programs (43 percent) and $177,600 on women's (29 percent), and $166,600 on nongender administrative expenses.

An average of $80,400 was spent on Division III football programs, about 25 percent of the expense in a typical program. The average expense for men's ice hockey was $52,300, about 16 percent of the average total expenditure (the figure includes Division III programs that sponsor men's ice hockey programs in Division I). Those are the only sports exceeding 10 percent of expenses.

For women, basketball was the most expensive program, with an average expenditure of $23,000 (11 percent).

This is the first revenue and expenses study that has examined Division III finances separately from Divisions I and II. Researchers concluded that the financial dynamics in Division III are so different from the other two that separate publications would be more useful for all concerned. The full report will be mailed November 15.

The revenues and expenses survey for Divisions I and II will be released next week.

Salaries, wages and fringe benefits are by far the greatest expense for the typical Division III athletics department, consuming 58 percent of the budget for those with football and 59 percent for those without. Travel, at 13 percent for those with football and 11 percent for those without, is the only other item examined that consumes as much as 10 percent of expenses.