Slow news day here (for once), and I started thinking a little bit about budgets and what universities spend on men’s basketball. With the Final Four approaching, it’s interesting to think that VCU (operating budget of $318,318 in 2009-10) and Connecticut (operating budget of $2,224,399 in the same year) could square off for a national title. VCU actually has more undergraduates than UConn, so it’s technically a bigger school than Connecticut. But of course, big school/small school arguments in college athletics come down to finances, not enrollment numbers.

These numbers are courtesy of the Office of Postsecondary Education (OPE), and the numbers will likely be updated again sometime during the summer. These numbers are from the 2009-10 school year, as the numbers from 2010-11 will be posted later this year. So where does Liberty stand in relation to the other schools in the state and in the Big South? A quick look:

OPERATING EXPENSES (or game-day expenses)/Rank among sports at school

VIRGINIA SCHOOLS
1. Virginia—$1,675,219/2 (behind football)
2. Virginia Tech (NIT)—$965,391/2 (football)
3. Richmond (NCAA)—$854,189/1
4. Old Dominion (NCAA)—$523,294/2 (football)
5. George Mason (NCAA)—$462,074/1
6. Virginia Commonwealth (NCAA)—$318,318/1
7. James Madison—$309,464/3 (behind football, women’s basketball)
8. Liberty—$283,824/3 (behind football, women’s basketball)
9. William & Mary—$270,527/2 (football)
10. Norfolk State—$215,306/2 (football)
11. Radford—$185,298/1
12. Hampton (NCAA)—$174,442/2 (football)
13. Longwood—$165,172/1
14. VMI—$130,819/2 (football)

BIG SOUTH
1. Liberty—$283,824/3 (football, women’s basketball)
2. Coastal Carolina (NIT)—$236,858/3 (football/baseball)
3. High Point—$189,705/1
4. Presbyterian—$188,161/2 (football)
5. Radford—$185,298/1
6. Winthrop—$182,322/1
7. Gardner-Webb—$170,219/2 (football)
8. Campbell—$160,099/2 (football)
9. UNC Asheville (NCAA)—$135,374/1
10. Charleston Southern—$135,002/2 (football—but barely)
11. VMI—$130,819/2 (football)

Now when you look at total expenses, the numbers are a little different. I’ll post those numbers in order, with a denotation in parentheses of + (school turns profit on MBB), E (school breaks even), - (school loses money)

VIRGINIA SCHOOLS
1. Virginia—$7,390,325 (+)
2. Virginia Tech—$4,790,553 (+)
3. Richmond—$2,654,275 (+)
4. Liberty—$2,586,974 (E)
5. Old Dominion—$2,345,505 (E)
6. Virginia Commonwealth—$2,324,111 (E)
7. George Mason—$2,126,409 (+)
8. James Madison—$1,985,836 (E)
9. William & Mary—$1,363,298 (E)
10. Radford—$1,307,569 (E)
11. VMI—$1,024,017 (+)
12. Longwood—$949,023 (+)
13. Hampton—$825,701 (-)
14. Norfolk State—$813,850 (+)

BIG SOUTH SCHOOLS
1. Liberty—$2,586,974 (E)
2. Radford—$1,307,569 (E)
3. Winthrop—$1,232,956 (+)
4. Coastal Carolina—$1,230,894 (E)
5. High Point—$1,126,868 (+)
6. Gardner-Webb—$1,078,482 (+)
7. Campbell—$1,029,497 (E)
8. VMI—$1,024,017 (+)
9. Presbyterian—$955,807 (E)
10. Charleston Southern—$903,380 (+)
11. UNC Asheville—$528,336 (+)

Most of the pluses in these numbers are due to the smaller-budget schools’ propensity to play guarantee games. And Virginia and Virginia Tech turning significant profits is not surprising considering the licensing and brand power the teams have. Interesting that Hampton actually loses money on men’s basketball. I also found it interesting that Norfolk State spends a lot of money on women’s bowling. A stunning amount, really. ($75,605 for eight athletes. NSU baseball spends $87,227 for a team of 30 athletes.)

During the summer, I want to work on compiling a database of the salaries of FCS coaches for comparison sake, and I’ll take a similar look at FCS football budgets once the new numbers become available in the summer.