trim non-revenue sports
Roundfrog hit the nail on the head, the issue isn't with public money being spent, its with utilization of the public money we already have. For years, the U has waaay overfunded non-revenue sports while they consistently lose millions of dollars. Even the U of M women's basketball team lost millions in the last few years. I'm not calling to cut funding to them, but its an example. They are not a revenue generating team and have a negative net impact. There are numerous sports that receive significantly more funding than deserved at a significant negative cost (golf, gymnastics, baseball and imo rowing should be trimmed). The U's hands are tied in some regard due to issues with Title IX and the requirements to provide equal scholarships and in some regard funding as well to both women's and mens teams, and the football team adds a disproportionate amount of scholarships. Therefore, we have programs like rowing getting millions through scholarships and additional funding of completely undeserved funds. Please don't take this is as a sexist argument whatsoever, it is simply making a point that our revenue sports are severely hampered by the amount of non-revenue sports the U funds. The basketball team and football team are the only reason those other sports can exist and fund them almost exclusively. In fact, most athletic departments across the nation are now losing money and it almost always comes down to a question of how much money our revenue teams can make in order to fund our non-revenue teams.
You have two decisions, accept mediocre revenue teams by failing to properly fund them, which in turn forces you to cut non-revenue teams for lack of funds as well. Or properly fund the revenue teams and generate additional income you can use to assist non-revenue teams. That was a huge decision in building the new stadium and a positive sign. The answer is not to ask for additional public funds, but to manage the funds you have like a proper business. Either way, non-revenue sports have to be trimmed/cut.
