First, the University of Louisville just published a white paper this week called "College Athletics Is Running Out of Time." It was authored by their president Dr. Gerry Bradley, AD Josh Heird, and board of trustees chairman Dr. Laurence Benz. I've attached the full PDF. It's worth reading from start to finish, but here are the headlines:
The financial model of college athletics is broken at a structural level. Louisville spends about $167M a year on athletics and only generates $155M. Their reserves have dropped from $34M down to $3.4M. They had to take out a $25M line of credit just to cover the new $20.5M in revenue sharing obligations under the House v. NCAA settlement. And this isn't unique to Louisville. Ohio State lost $37.7M the same year they won the national championship, then set the all-time spending record at $320M the following year. Penn State is carrying $534M in athletics-related debt. Rutgers has accumulated $516.9M in total losses since joining the Big Ten, with spending up 175% in eleven years. Florida State's debt jumped $200M in a single fiscal cycle. Texas set a new national record at $375.9M in operating expenses.