Taxes: Not Coming to a University Near You
Big time NCAA athletics have come under increasing scrutiny from the squinty-eyed folk in Washington, who’ve been asking uncomfortable questions like, “What do you mean Utah has a zero percent chance at a national championship?” and, “It certainly appears someone is profiting from collegiate athletics, mmmm?”↵↵Myles Brand got hauled in front of Congress a few years ago, where he expressed deep concern but offered no real answers. This hearing spurred the very serious Congressional Budget Office to peer over its very serious reading glasses and see if they could milk that cow. ↵
↵↵The answer has come down. Money graf for the movers and shakers:↵
↵↵⇥In the case of Division IA schools (a subset of schools in Division I that meet NCAA requirements for football programs), 60 percent to 80 percent of athletic departments’ revenue comes from activities that can be described as commercial. That proportion is seven to eight times that for the rest of the schools’ activities and programs, suggesting that their sports programs may have crossed the line from educational to commercial endeavors. ↵↵
↵Some↵have suggested this means athletic departments can expect to find themselves handing over revenue to the Feds in the near future. However, the CBO report also states that athletic departments' close association with, you know, colleges, would make financial hijinks child's play and -- in this case, I'll defer↵to the economists at ... well ... the Sports Economist: ↵
↵↵⇥Sen. Charles Grassley↵⇥is quoted in this story, whining about the problem and the study, presumably since it throws cold water on Congress’ ambition to alter the nature of college sports by threatening to change their tax treatment. ↵↵↵As usual when it comes to the NCAA and Congress, there’s nothing to see here.↵
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This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.
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