Division I presidents and chancellors are receiving the second iteration of a data-management tool known as dashboard indicators to help guide their decisions on investments in intercollegiate athletics.

The system takes financial data compiled through uniform reporting procedures developed by the NCAA and the National Association of College and University Business Officers and presents them in ways that allow presidents and other campus leaders to compare their athletics spending with peer groups.

NCAA presidents were sent log-in information this week to access the financial data and are being urged to add the dashboard indicators to their financial-review arsenal.

Developed last year as a result of recommendations from the Presidential Task Force – which advocated for clear, concise and comparable data to better inform decision-makers about athletics expenditures – the dashboard indicators are a graphic comparison of the annual financial picture of the institution’s athletics program in about 30 categories. Presidents can compare their own institution’s financial data to sets of aggregate data from other like institutions (by conference, for example, or by public/private, FBS/FCS, etc.). Because the comparisons are made in the aggregate, institutional data remain confidential.

NCAA officials made several improvements to the system this year based on user feedback from last year, including the addition of the Academic Progress Rate and total athletics expenditures to the “president’s view” page. New dashboard indicators include generated revenues over direct expenditures, and generated revenues plus student fees over total athletics expenditures.

This year’s dashboards include revenue and expense data for the last four fiscal years (2004-05, 2005-06, 2006-07 and 2007-08).

The communication to presidents on the dashboard project also includes a link to an updated financial study of Football Bowl Subdivision athletics financing conducted by Jonathan Orzsag and Mark Israel and commissioned by the NCAA that indicates, among other findings, that spending on coaches’ salaries and scholarships has no significant relationship to success or increased revenue. The study also confirms earlier hypotheses that spending on athletics has no relationship to academic quality, and successful athletics teams do not prompt more alumni giving.

The study does show increased support for the existence of an “arms race,” which differs slightly from previous studies.

Also included for the first time is information about the impact of capital expenditures. Data on such expenditures were not previously available, and what is available now is limited. Research shows that there may be some relationship between capital spending and revenue; in particular a dollar increase in capital stock is associated with a $.06 increase in athletics revenue.