Here is something always fun to discuss....Rutgers athletics in a huge deficit....
- Thread starter psuro
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Rutgers needs to try harder. Pitt made that chant part of their fight song.
I nominate Rutgers as the next program to go "University of Chicago" on the BIG - i.e. get out of all athletics and stay in academically.
Frankly, between the potential costs of concussions and the vast amounts of money required to stay competitive in college football, I wouldn't be surprised if many D-2 and D-3 teams eliminate football and some D-1 programs may chose to drop down to D-2.
Frankly, between the potential costs of concussions and the vast amounts of money required to stay competitive in college football, I wouldn't be surprised if many D-2 and D-3 teams eliminate football and some D-1 programs may chose to drop down to D-2.
Just like a lot of big cities, the pro teams own the market. In NYC, the Giants, Jets, Yanks, Mets, Knicks, Rangers, Nets, Islanders, etc dominate the market leaving little room for college teams. Once in a while, Rutgers of St Johns makes a splash in hoops, but that's about it. In Philly, the Phillies, Flyers, Eagles, 76ers dominate the market with Villanova hoops being the only one that competes with the pro teams. In Pittsburgh, its the Steelers and Penguins. There are a few exceptions like USC football and UCLA basketball, but in general, pro teams dominate the markets in big cities.
University loans the athletic department money and athletic department books it as revenue. Not an accountant but isnāt that cooking the books? Isnāt that criminal?
In my experience, long time ago so I might be misremembering, you were supposed to book both the proceeds from the loan (debit to cash) and the liability (credit). You also should show accrued interest as an interest expense and make a credit to the liability. Loans should never be classified as revenue. That's "Cooking the Books 101."
Numbers were used internally and for reports to the NCAA and maybe the Big Ten. No one was being misled to their detriment, so while it's atrocious accounting, it's not criminal.
FWIW, PSU previously did something similar on internal Athletic Department presentations. Whether it continues to do so, I couldn't say.
Itās not criminal because itās being performed by State Agencies. But much of the deficit is still a sophisticated form of money laundering. The State Government (in reality the politicians) āloanā Rutgers money from taxpayer generated funds. Money they know will never be repaid. Not all of this money, but enough to make it a lucrative enterprise is then distributed to outside vendors. Everything an athletic department needs from A to Z. The vendors are in bed with the politicians, who are repaid with campaign donations or direct cash. The money always circulating within the insider group. Iām certain this happens in many places, but New Jersey has made it an art form. How they do the accounting is immaterial.
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Uh, no. The State of New Jersey does not lend money to the Rutgers Athletic Department, it make outright grants that do not have to be repaid. There is no "laundering" aspect because these transfers are done in the clear light of day. Everyone know about them and their purpose. WShether they are prudent is another matter.
The loans made from Rutgers, the university, to its Athletic Department are akin to moving money from one pocket to another in the same pair of pants. Unfortunately people get more wound up over the mechanics of the shell game rather than questioning whether a university should be spending at this level to support varsity sports. As I've intimated earlier Penn State, if I interpret Kraft's pronouncement on Beaver Stadium ("we're close") correctly is likely to find itself confronting the issue head on as opposed to being allowed to bury its head in the sand as it's done for years.
As a spreadsheet jockey for many years, forgive me for doubting that some reporters have a firm grasp on what the athletic departmentās prospects are.
The article canāt resist throwing in the obligatory womenās soccer spending issue. If not for the TV revenues on the football side, they would all be playing Fairleigh Dickinson. (Taking nothing away from the fine Rutgerās womenās soccer team, but a revenue producer they are not).
Basically, as TV revenue increases Rutgers will be able to gradually pay down the debt, IF that is what the University wants to do.
Getting the New Jersey legislature involved as the arbiter of fiscal rectitude will beā¦entertaining!
The article canāt resist throwing in the obligatory womenās soccer spending issue. If not for the TV revenues on the football side, they would all be playing Fairleigh Dickinson. (Taking nothing away from the fine Rutgerās womenās soccer team, but a revenue producer they are not).
Basically, as TV revenue increases Rutgers will be able to gradually pay down the debt, IF that is what the University wants to do.
Getting the New Jersey legislature involved as the arbiter of fiscal rectitude will beā¦entertaining!
Iām aware of one bar that promotes a team for Saturday viewing in Manhattan. And that is a Boston College bar!
Public agency accounting isā¦..creative. Yes, there are standards, but if you spend a minute looking at Federal Government āaccountingā, youād send Rutgers an award for fiscal rectitude.
You apparently have more confidence in that than the President of Rutgers does.
Could be. I just have decades of experience in the construction of financial spreadsheets and an equally long time in reading reportersā takes on āinsideā subjects that I was directly involved in.
Iām skeptical, but I could certainly be wrong.
When fiscal rectitude meets auditsā¦.yes.
Think colonoscopy without the anesthesiaā¦Way back when, I worked on one of Base Realignment and Closure Commission offices for the US Navy's Pacific Fleet. The whole Pacific Fleet wasn't really concerned about the Russians, the Chinese, the North Koreans or Islamic rebels in the Philippines. They were primarily concerned with the auditors from the Defense Auditing Service - a branch of the DOD that could cause admirals to break into a cold sweat. When they came into our office, the sweat pumps were on overspeed.When fiscal rectitude meets auditsā¦.yes.
I suspect a lot of the hopes of the powers that be at the BIG involved additional eyeballs watching the BTN in the NY, Philly, Baltimore/Washington markets. I've never seen a breakdown, but I suspect they haven't gotten the additional eyeballs they anticipated from Rutgers and MD. I also think they wanted to promote the BIG by having tournaments in MSG and DC. Not sure if they got the additional interest in the BIG from those. I do know there was a lot of complaining from the traditional BIG fans that wanted to see the BIG hoops tournament in the midwest every year and the BIG football championship in Indy. The BIG hoops tournament will be in Chicago in 2023 and Minneapolis in 2024. Don't know after that. Of course after 2025, we'll have UCLA and USC in the tournament, so maybe they'll have it in LA some time after 2025.
I had two separate routinely scheduled government audits when I was in financial management in two separate companies. They were both Defense Department audits, and I forget the acronyms of the agencies. I believe one was the DCAA.
As you can appreciate failing either would have been a major career detriment! One was digging into our overhead pools (oh joy!) and the other was a complete audit of our hundreds of billions in domestic revenue transactions to ensure that the government had received the lowest price that any commercial customer had received (a requirement of our contract with them). We passed both audits, but all I could think of for several weeks was the disaster caused if some field office in Wyoming had somehow managed to sell some obscure retired machine product to an equally obscure customer that happened to overlap with a purchase on some small government contract.
I sure donāt miss THAT!
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