I am putting in the AppState football category because there is information in the report regarding AppState, but the issue I found most interesting in this article concerns a new law in Virginia. I'll touch on that in a moment.

AppState, according to the data in the article, had athletic revenues of $19,414,754 and expenses of $19,320,283. Of the revenue, $10,283,987 came from subsidies from either the university or student fees or both. Subsidies thus represented 52.97% of revenue. (The table still lists both ASU and GaSouthern as in the Southern conference. Not sure why.)

The new Virginia law I mentioned above, goes into effect in June 2016, would put a limit on the amount of subsidy money that a school can get for athletics. The schools will have 5 years to meet the new requirements, and then can get an additional five years if needed.

The percentage depends on where they play athletics. For instance, if you play in a power 5 conference, no more than 20% of revenue can be from subsidies (UVA and VT already meet that threshold). If you are in the FBS but not power 5 (read ODU) the max subsidy is 55%. ODU is currently at 65% ($26M subsidy on revenue of $41M). If you play at FCS (JMU) the max subsidy amount is 70%. JMU is currently at a whopping 82% ($36M subsidy on revenue of $44M). In essence, what that means is that JMU would have to go from an 82% subsidy amount down to a 55% subsidy amount if they decide to move up to FBS. Keeping their revenue constant that means shifting $11M from subsidies to other revenue; or dropping expenses.

This will probably play into JMU's decision on whether to move up.

Link to article: http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/co ... /27971457/

Link to database: http://sports.usatoday.com/ncaa/finances/

The folks on the JMU board say that a lot more than athletics is counted in their budget, like marching band. Take out those expenses, and they're around the number. The angst is that if they don't announce a move by 7/1/16, any move would have to clear a review panel. I can't see them waiting that long to have their fate stripped from their hands. Unless they're looking for an excuse to not move.

on one hand, I have always been proud of how fiscally responsible App has been in the funding of the athletic dept, but, at the same time we have one of the smallest athletic budgets in the FBS, really difficult to compete in the long term. The budget has to increased if we ever hope to compete on a national level.