Survey: Athletic directors bracing for financial crisis

AP College Sports Writer

Athletic directors at the nation’s biggest sports schools are bracing for a potential financial crisis related to the coronavirus pandemic.

According to a survey released Thursday by LEAD1, an association of athletic directors from 130 major college football schools, 63% forecast a worst-case scenario in which their revenues decrease by at least 20% during the 2020-21 school year. Even an abbreviated football season could cause schools to lose that much.

LEAD1 and Teamworks, a company that created an app designed to help keep teams and athletic departments connected, conducted the survey of more than 100 ADs from schools in Division I’s Football Bowl Subdivision. “The State of Athletics in the Face of the Coronavirus” provides a sobering glimpse of the top concerns for the wealthiest athletic departments in the country.

The NCAA canceled winter and spring sports on March 12, separating thousands of college athletes from teammates and coaches and leaving them unable to practice and compete.

Athletic directors surveyed said their greatest concerns about their athletes over the next three months were academic progress, mental health and a lack of resources for them while off campus.

And then there are the financial concerns.

Canceling the men’s Division I basketball tournament cost the NCAA $375 million it was scheduled to distribute to its member schools.

Asked for their worst-case scenario analysis, 65% of the athletic directors said revenue for the 2019-20 fiscal year would drop from 0-20%, including 35% expecting a decrease ranging from 0-10%.

Joshua L. Jones/Athens Banner-Herald via AP, File Georgia coach Kirby Smart says quarterback is the position most affected by spring practice being canceled by the coronavirus pandemic. It’s bad timing for the Bulldogs, who would have used the spring as a time to have Wake Forest transfer Jamie Newman and others compete to replace three-year starter Jake Fromm.