Introduction
The athletic department of university of Oregon has registered an exceptional growth and success over the past decade, with the university’s athletic program doubling from approximately twenty nine million dollars in the year 2000-2001 to seventy million dollars in the year 2009-2010. Generally, the university has been involved in a vigorous development of facilities in the department of athletics over the same period. Most of the funding for projects and facilities in the department of athletics reportedly comes from private donors.
Main Sources of Income for the University
The main sources of income for Oregon University are gifts and donations, PAC-10 &NCAA, and football, one of the only two revenue sports. Income from gifts and donations total to about $ 64,606,011 for the period between 2006 to 2010 accounting for approximately 28.94% of the total income for the university over the same period of time. The income is spread over the years as follows:
Football contributes a total of $ 61,511,533 for the four years, contributing approximately 27.55 % of the total income for the university over the same period of time. The relative contribution of income from football is spread over the years as follows:
PAC 10 & NCAA also substantially supplements the university income as a major source, with an accumulated contribution of 17.28% over the four year period split between the years as follows:
Out of approximately 25 sources of income for the university, the three primary sources (gifts &donations, PAC 10 & NCAA, and football) contribute more than 50% revenue base for the university. For the given four years, income from the two sources totals to about 56.49% of the total four-year revenue ($223,252,776). The rate of growth for gifts and donations as a primary income source for Oregon University over the four years is as follows:
Football as a revenue sport for the university experiences both growth and decline as follows:
As for PAC 10 & NCAA, the trend of growth and decline over the four year period has been as follows:
Although minimal as individual sources, accumulatively, other funding, OSN/Broadcasting/Marketing, rental, food concessions, men’s basketball and incidental fees are also important sources of income for the university, and can get better if well tapped.
Financial Performance of Women’s Sport
Women sports are categorized under the non-revenue sports for the university, thus it’s generally acceptable to conclude that their financial performance is poor. Their incomes for the university are quite low; almost imperceptible. For instance, comparison between the men’s basketball and women basketball over the four-year period is as follows:
Whereas the income from male basketball is sizeably substantial, the women’s’ is pretty low.
Independently, women basketball registers a continued revenue decline for the university as the year’s progress. There is a slight increase though, between the year 2009 and 2010 making the trend even more unpredictable and unreliable. As for women’s tennis, despite the increased year after year expenditure, the sport encounters persisted losses, to the worst of registering nil income for the university between 2007 to 2010. Even in the year 2006, the sport registers a very low revenue base of £ 3,092 million. As for women’s track, soccer and Lacrosse, the sports have a continued trend of deteriorating income generation for the university. Women’s track, for instance, registers an income only in the year 2009-2010, with the rest of years registering zero income.
It’s worth noting that, although the women’s sports perform pretty poorly as a source of income for the university, their expenditures are pretty substantial with most of them spending ten times more their income, thus the sports are not only a letdown as an income generating activity, but are also not sustaining to the sports.
Private Donor Support
Private donor support in Oregon University is one of the main income bases contributing up to a total of 28 % of the four-year income as earlier discussed in this paper, thus it can easily pass to say the university largely depends on this income source for their financial support. Dependency on this source of income by the university records a consistent increase over the four years (21.50%, 27.06%, 30.37% and 34.38%) respectively. Considering that donations are done out of one owns will, and that it’s not a compulsory gesture from any human being, it’s definitely a worrying trend for the university to have an increasingly high dependency on this source. The future is unforeseen for anyone, thus it could as well turn doom for donor support for the university. The university should explore and strengthen other more sufficient and reliable income sources that will be self sustaining either with or without private donations. Otherwise, it’s most likely that tables could turn against the unprecedented growth and the cherished success that has been experienced over the last decade.