An Amazing article on the Rutgers Athletic Program and $265 million in debt --worth not getting lost on page 442 of the dumpster fire thread

[Delmar]

‘Unsustainable’: How Rutgers athletics quietly racked up $265M in debt

This was the year Rutgers University athletics expected to be on firm financial ground. Instead, the move to the Big Ten means anything but that.

www.njherald.com

 

[OrangeAl]

What a crazy world collegiate athletics has become. Rutgers really didn't have any choice but to be sucked into this high-stakes gamble with the Big Ten. I wonder how we would have fared in taking that path.

 

[sutomcat]

‘Unsustainable’: How Rutgers athletics quietly racked up $265M in debt

This was the year Rutgers University athletics expected to be on firm financial ground. Instead, the move to the Big Ten means anything but that.

www.njherald.com

Rutgers doing Rutgers things, as always. I am comforted that some things never change.

 

[rrlbees]

Has to be a board record for the longest thread title.

 

[Delmar]

Has to be a board record for the longest thread title.

Thanks. In my defense, it is a long article.

 

[Pyle]

Still belongs in the dumpster fire

 

[MikeSU02]

That is not good... at all.

“It's unsustainable, but I don't have an answer as to what is the sustainable piece going forward,” Rutgers president Jonathan Holloway said.

Not great, Bob.

 

[rrlbees]

That is a scary article. And they don’t even have a copy of their big 10 contract? Huh?

 

[Symphony Steve]

That's some excellent reporting, right there. Award-worthy.

 

[721Comstock]

Calling loan proceeds from B1G as "income" is - Dear Misleader-level shady creative accounting.

 

[NKR1978]

It sounds like crimes have been committed. Can't believe Hobbs willingly spoke to the reporter.

 

[orangefog]

That is a scary article. And they don’t even have a copy of their big 10 contract? Huh?

I doubt it will happen, but I could see the B1G walking away from Rutgers once they are due a full share.

 

[Scooch]

Seems like the kind of investigative piece that's going to cause major consequences in NJ. This part early in the article is mind blowing...

Rutgers was dead last among 52 public universities in the five richest conferences in donations to athletics for operations in 2019-20, based on data provided by USA TODAY Sports and Syracuse University’s S.I Newhouse School of Public Communications. Rutgers was next to last in ticket sales and 50th in generated revenue.

Meanwhile, athletics relied on more university support, including student fees, than any of the other schools. Each of the roughly 30,000 students at the New Brunswick campus pays nearly $400 in fees just for athletics.

It's fun to pile on Rutgers, but "unsustainable" seems like the operative word for many, many college athletic departments.

 

[GoSU96]

Calling loan proceeds from B1G as "income" is - Dear Misleader-level shady creative accounting.

In a commercial context that would constitute fraud, but in the government/academic context intentionally misstating the balance sheet is just doing your job to hide the truth from taxpayers

 

[texascpa]

I still remember those financial wizards on the Rutgers R!vals forum claiming how all their financial woes would be solved when they got their full share of the B10 tv money...which I believe was supposed to be this year. Not even close. Sorta like how the game this Saturday will go when SU steamrolls them.

 

[sutomcat]

Has to be a board record for the longest thread title.

I am pretty sure Cali wrote whole, long extended posts in the title when he was first on the board.

He was an innovator. Pretty sure Tom E had to add some edits specifically for him.

 

[GoSU96]

Seems like the kind of investigative piece that's going to cause major consequences in NJ. This part early in the article is mind blowing...



It's fun to pile on Rutgers, but "unsustainable" seems like the operative word for many, many college athletic departments.

Rutgers problem is it has no real brand. They are an Aldi’s level cereal. Cheap, Non descript and flavorless.

 

[TexanMark]

What a crazy world collegiate athletics has become. Rutgers really didn't have any choice but to be sucked into this high-stakes gamble with the Big Ten. I wonder how we would have fared in taking that path.

We have basketball and a paid off Dome

 

[EuclidBred]

Seems like the kind of investigative piece that's going to cause major consequences in NJ. This part early in the article is mind blowing...



It's fun to pile on Rutgers, but "unsustainable" seems like the operative word for many, many college athletic departments.

After reading this, I was going to say the same exact thing Scooch. Honestly, I'm a bit envious that even with all those financial issues they are continuing to pump money into their athletics department with a new football facility coming within the next 5 or so years. We need to get shovels in the ground for however we are going to spend the $25 million that was donated a few years back!!

 

[Finwad32]

I am pretty sure Cali wrote whole, long extended posts in the title when he was first on the board.

He was an innovator. Pretty sure Tom E had to add some edits specifically for him.

What I wouldn’t give for one more Cali post… If I could choose it would be a preseason recruiting/season prediction post as he would really dive into every one of the 25 recruits he loved and how they were going to change the program and most likely immediately and then he would transition into sentence after sentence beautifully without any punctuation or paragraph breaks all while making sure you knew exactly how bright his orange colored glasses were and no matter what year after year throughout the leanest of seasons he always carried that torch and was the eternal optimist Jeremiah Kobena Steve Rene Tyree Smallwood it didn’t matter they were all the next Reggie Bush and we were always headed to the big game man was Cali a board gem and man do I miss him. RIP bud.

 

[IthacaMatt]

Seems like the kind of investigative piece that's going to cause major consequences in NJ. This part early in the article is mind blowing...



It's fun to pile on Rutgers, but "unsustainable" seems like the operative word for many, many college athletic departments.

You have to sell tickets.

 

[Briancuse]

I doubt it will happen, but I could see the B1G walking away from Rutgers once they are due a full share.

I hope to have some free time on my hands to witness the meltdown over on their little forum.

 

[hoopsupstate]

After reading this, I was going to say the same exact thing Scooch. Honestly, I'm a bit envious that even with all those financial issues they are continuing to pump money into their athletics department with a new football facility coming within the next 5 or so years. We need to get shovels in the ground for however we are going to spend the $25 million that was donated a few years back!!

The $25 million is a very small portion of an expected new project. Hopefully, sooner than later.

 

[kirbivore]

reminds me of the Sopranos episode where Tony's buddy gets in too deep in a card game and the crew takes his business

 

[Nahson]

Fun fact: Rutgers played in the very first college football game… and have been hemorrhaging money ever since!