The University of Alabama Birmingham made national headlines when it decided to cancel its football program after the 2014 season. (RELATED: UAB Football Players Give Emotional Speeches After Program Gets The Axe)
UAB claimed that football — along with the rifle and bowling squads — simply cost too much money to operate. However, an independent study, released Thursday by Bay area economic firm OSKR, would beg to differ.
Per ESPN:
We find that the three sports in question did not cost the university anywhere near the $3.75 million indicated on UAB’s accounting statements. Instead, after making the sort of adjustments suggested by the economics literature, we conclude that the three sports were effectively break-even to slightly positive. Football and bowling showed a modest positive return for 2013-14, the last year for which complete data was available. Rifle showed a deficit, but the three-sport balance was positive to the tune of $75,000.
We conclude that going forward, anticipated improvement in ticket sales from 2013-14 levels and new College Football Playoff revenues will outpace new expenses from Cost of Attendance stipends and unlimited food allowances… Once these new revenues and expenses kick in, we anticipate the aggregate annual surplus from football, bowling, and rifle would exceed $500,000, even without including the anticipated but hard-to-quantify benefits to admissions and enrollment, donations, and media exposure.
Hey UAB, you got some ‘splainin’ to doooo.
You can read the entire report here.