During a period of flat or declining academic budgets, university athletic enterprises are growing at a healthy clip in the NCAA’s Division I schools, according to a new database.
The Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics, long a voice for reform in college sports, unveiled an extensive database Wednesday that shines a light on universities’ big spending on athletics – particularly football.
For example, while academic spending per student dropped 12 percent at UNC Chapel Hill from 2005 to 2011, athletic spending per athlete grew by 30 percent and football spending per player jumped 56 percent.