Realignment Megathread (All The Moves)
- Thread starter ISUcyclones11
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How the **** has ISU ran a surplus on net with the comparably paltry Big 12 TV money while Arkansas and Rutgers have been cashing massive SEC and Big Ten checks yet are infinitely deep in the red?
I guess it's like the stories you hear of people winning the lottery.
Well run athletic departments will plan/budget very conservatively. That way they don't get into situations like Rutgers. And since Pollard was a licensed CPA, his natural instinct is to be very conservative. That's why some projects at ISU have been put on hold for the time being
Trying to be great in too many sports that's the issue. This is what happens when you offer that many sports and try to invest in all of them. If they just picked 3 or 4 to focus on, they'd be ok.
On what exactly are they blowing money on compared to Iowa St.?
It can't be all football and men's basketball coaches' salaries, right? Iowa St. has made some very serious and expensive facilities upgrades in the past 30 years, too, and NIL is a recent "thing" and I think these financial holes have been building up for Arkansas and Buttgers for decades+ not just a few years.
I know Pollard gives peanuts to sports that aren't FB, MBB, and to a lesser extent WBB and wrestling, but are the Razorbacks really bankrupting themselves trying to compete in women's tennis?
I think another part of it is that there are a lot of schools in the SEC and Big 10 that simply aren't in the same league of fan support and external finances as the true big dogs.
Because the Ohio States, Texases, Michigans, and Indiana's of the world have big time outside boosters paying their roster costs, they can invest the big TV checks into Olympic sports, facilities, etc. If you're a Rutgers, Arkansas, Iowa, whomever, you don't have that extra money and are basically playing on an uneven field with your conference mates that leads to misguided attempts at keeping up with the Joneses. The schools who got grandfathered into these biggest payout leagues (as opposed to getting their via their own merits) are kind of in trouble too, unless they get a mega-rich booster to float their roster budget.
Because the Ohio States, Texases, Michigans, and Indiana's of the world have big time outside boosters paying their roster costs, they can invest the big TV checks into Olympic sports, facilities, etc. If you're a Rutgers, Arkansas, Iowa, whomever, you don't have that extra money and are basically playing on an uneven field with your conference mates that leads to misguided attempts at keeping up with the Joneses. The schools who got grandfathered into these biggest payout leagues (as opposed to getting their via their own merits) are kind of in trouble too, unless they get a mega-rich booster to float their roster budget.
There have got to be some finance wizards on here that play chess. What is the true penalty of the debt? Who is going to absorb the losses? Is there litigation in the future? Is there solvency in the future? What happens upon solvency? Is there insurance for nefarious financing? It just seems that so many institutions are playing with such huge debt relative to their balance sheet gains. Most of which just doesn't make sense to me. Unless a lot of it is funny money being played with by someone who is getting rich with little to no liability for making poor decisions. That, of course, happens at the highest levels already.
Arkansas reported a surplus in 2025, so I think the reports of their financial demise have been exaggerated.
frankly, I think this is wishcasting and isn't supported by any objective analysis
Here's a listing of all of Ohio St's Big 10 championship teams outside of football in the last 20 years (thanks chatgpt)
They're apparently great a Men's Tennis, having won the conference championship every year since 2006
They won two conference titles in baseball (2009 and 2016)
One hockey conference title in their history which was in 2019
Soccer conference titles in 2007, 2009, 2015, and 2024
Indoor track: 2018
Outdoor: 2018, 2022
Men's Swimming: 2010
Women's golf: 2014-16, 2019
Womens basketball: 2005-10, 2022, 2024
Women's tennis: 2016-17, 2021-22
Women's Soccer: 2010, 2017
Women's Swimming: 2020-23, 2025
For some reason they didn't list the women's indoor/outdoor track championships but I assume there were some. It also didn't list Ohio State's 4 conference titles in men's basketball under Thad Matta that would have been in this time period.
Point being, while Ohio St is certainly no slouch outside of football, they're not exactly "playing on an uneven playing ground" either. The reasoning is as simple as it is obvious. Why give the women's swim team 100k when you could give it to the long snapper you want to bring in. Yes, they have boosters who spend all sorts of money on football. If you haven't noticed, they don't win the national championship every year. How long do you think the AD would have his job if his boosters found out he was taking money that could be going to the football program and giving it to the mens hockey team?
Ok, Ohio State and Rutgers have the same financial resources. Iowa's the same as Ohio State. I'm the one who's wishcasting here.
Ok, Ohio State and Rutgers have the same financial resources. Iowa's the same as Ohio State. I'm the one who's wishcasting here.
For football? They certainly don't and nobody said otherwise. For women's basketball or wrestling? I think you'd be hard pressed to say that Ohio St had more resources than Iowa. For men's basketball, they're probably similar. The other dozen or so sports doesn't get much from either school revenue wise.
I mean for ***** sake, Ohio St funded 4 sports from the 20.5 nil package (football, basketball, volleyball) but you think they're going to pump a bunch of money into women's water polo? For what? For whom?
What you're not getting is they don't ******* care if their gymnastics team is first class or if the men's rugby team won 25 games last year. They barely care about basketball. Do you see them buying a bunch of McDonald's all american's for their men's and women's basketball teams? Every dollar that goes to those sports come out of the pot that they actually care about, which is football.
Rutgers would be no different than Indiana in this regard and honestly you could lump most big ten schools into that category.
The issue with Rutgers is that all their rebuke programs have been awful for such a long time you can’t get the support for a bad product.
Indiana only got support when they started winning.
Since joining the Big 10 their expenditures increased $120 million a year. TV revenue only covers half of that.
Ticket sales in football are flat at $9 million, despite improving somewhat their football product.
And the deficit doesn’t include spending on the house settlement.
No way that’s sustainable, unless the state government likes to throw good money after bad.
Ticket sales in football are flat at $9 million, despite improving somewhat their football product.
And the deficit doesn’t include spending on the house settlement.
No way that’s sustainable, unless the state government likes to throw good money after bad.
Also they kinda took out a loan against their big ten review or with the conference for awhile, no idea how that plays in.
To your point, that’s without rev share which is kinda insane
One common characteristic among very monied people is they don't believe in just willingly p*ssing their money away. If there are potential big dollar donors associated with Rutgers it doesn't surprise me at all that they have zero interest in giving to an athletic department as f*cked up and mismanaged as theirs seems to be.
Depends on new money vs old money a bit but typically they don’t want to support a loser unless they have an own the team kinda situation going on
Rutgers doesn't have a Mark Cuban. It's very different than Indiana.
