| The Knight Commission cites two critical spending issues in Division I college athletics: the imbalance of rapidly rising expenditures against slow-moving revenues and the widening gap between wealthy conferences and struggling conferences (2009a). The purpose of this study is to compare revenue and expenditure trends in men's revenue sports, men's non-revenue sports, and female sports from 2006-2009, to determine if differences in distributive justice principles exist in budget decisions across the three athletic department levels: Football Bowl Series (FBS), Football Championship Series (FCS), and the Non-Football Subdivision (Division I without Football). FBS institutions were found to almost completely abide by equity principles when making budgetary decisions while the FCS and Non-Football Subdivision made more decisions founded in principles of equality and need. The study is significant to institutions looking to add or drop varsity programs within their sub-classification, gain a financially competitive edge, or reclassify in the Division I structure. |
