Not to make light of the PSU situation, but...

[CyPlainsDrifter]

So you believe that endowment money will be steered away from academics and toward athletcis to offset the financial penalty? If that happened I'm guessing there would be some very unhappy people.

I'm assuming Penn States athletic department is self sustaining and hasn't needed financial help from the University in the past.

From the CR Gazette: "At the end of the 2011 fiscal year, the value of Penn State’s athletics endowments were nearly $101.5 million. The pledges were reported at $74.6 million. The university has an endowment of $1.8 billion. In fiscal year 2011, the university took in more than $4.55 billion and spent more than $4.14 billion. The university surplus was more than $415 million for that year alone."

Yes, I believe if the athletic dept needed an extra $60M to make it all work, it would come from the endowment proceeds and no one would complain (or very few overall) and the endowment wouldn't be affected by a noticeable amount. They can use just ~15% of the SURPLUS from 2011 to pay the fine, and be done with it. Most of you don't have a grasp on just how much money PSU has at their disposal. $60M won't hurt them in the least and there is no way they will cut Cael's budget to make this all work out.

 

[CYlent Bob]

From the CR Gazette: "At the end of the 2011 fiscal year, the value of Penn State’s athletics endowments were nearly $101.5 million. The pledges were reported at $74.6 million. The university has an endowment of $1.8 billion. In fiscal year 2011, the university took in more than $4.55 billion and spent more than $4.14 billion. The university surplus was more than $415 million for that year alone."

Yes, I believe if the athletic dept needed an extra $60M to make it all work, it would come from the endowment proceeds and no one would complain (or very few overall) and the endowment wouldn't be affected by a noticeable amount. They can use just ~15% of the SURPLUS from 2011 to pay the fine, and be done with it. Most of you don't have a grasp on just how much money PSU has at their disposal. $60M won't hurt them in the least and there is no way they will cut Cael's budget to make this all work out.

It's already been stated, but the hole in your argument is that the 73 million in fines assessed yesterday (60 from the NCAAA, 13 from the Big 10) is just the beginning. Remember, there are going to be multiple civil settlements in this case, and based on the University acquiescing to the NCAA penalties without protest, I think they'll be willing to open their checkbooks WIDE to make this PR nightmare go away.

Do you really believe that the academic & administrative parts of the university will "take the financial hit" for the athletic department without at least asking the rest of the athletic department to tighten their belts? They might, if they thought that PSU football was going to bounce right back & start printing money hand over fist, but it's reasonable to consider that PSU football is going to suffer a "lost decade" at best. Donors may have ponied up $200 million after the initial reports, but assuming that these donations are part of a bottomless well of goodwill for PSU is a big mistake.

 

[CyPlainsDrifter]

Do you really believe that the academic & administrative parts of the university will "take the financial hit" for the athletic department without at least asking the rest of the athletic department to tighten their belts?

Yes and no.... what I believe is that they can "take the hit" without affecting either athletics or academics. Their donations right now are rocking. Their fans are ******** that these sanctions are BS. PSU will survive and will be right back in the saddle in 5 years and YES, I'll say it again YES, I think Cael's budget will be unaffected.

Feel free to have a differing opinion, your're entitled. But, save yourself the effort, you will not change my opinion, just as I don't expect to change yours. In 5 years lets pull up the PSU wrestling budgets and we'll see.

 

[CYlent Bob]

Yes and no.... what I believe is that they can "take the hit" without affecting either athletics or academics. Their donations right now are rocking. Their fans are ******** that these sanctions are BS. PSU will survive and will be right back in the saddle in 5 years and YES, I'll say it again YES, I think Cael's budget will be unaffected.

Feel free to have a differing opinion, your're entitled. But, save yourself the effort, you will not change my opinion, just as I don't expect to change yours. In 5 years lets pull up the PSU wrestling budgets and we'll see.

Well said, and fair enough. I happen to think that this scandal along with a coming shake up in University Economics (think the 2008 real estate bubble, but with public & private colleges instead of banks & real estate) might combine to put the hurt on an athletic department that is also facing damn near bottomless civil suits in the near future. And don't underestimate the willingness of academics to stick the knife into athletics now that they've got some PR cover due to this whole Mongolian Goat Rodeo.

But you could very well be correct. They might find a way to prosper in this crisis. I just don't see it myself.

 

[kberyldial]

First - it was stated by Emmert that it would not be at the expense of the other sports. That is part of the penalty on the fb program by definition. Second - the $200 million in 2012 is largely donations to non-athletic causes. Third - the football program has seen a slight increase in donations. Fourth - the "endowments" are for whatever they were endowed for or if tagged as a general endowment for capital and operating expenses. That doesn't mean the $1.5 bil can just be tapped to cover football issues. The football program is taking it hard here, make no mistake. That was point and it should be.

 

[CycloneErik]

Emmert suggested that it would not be at the expense of other sports, and that the NCAA requested that Penn State pay without taking from other sports. He stated clearly that it was a request, but not a requirement. How it's done is up to Penn State.