Less is more thanks to unique philosophy

The University of Virginia spends about $38 million on its 23 varsity athletic teams each year. The University of Michigan has budgeted $59 million this year for its 26 varsity teams. Princeton spent less than $16 million on athletics in the 2003-04 school year — and boasts 38 varsity teams.

Princeton has one of the largest athletic programs of any university in the country, including a number of nationally ranked varsity teams. It sustains this program on a far lower budget than many of its peer institutions. And while University officials attribute much of the success to their approach to budgeting, some programs feel the crunch.

This is the first in a three-part series that examines funding for athletics at Princeton. As large of a role as sports play on campus, they comprise just two percent of the University's annual budget.

"It's ironic that we have one of the most leanly financed programs, but also one of the largest," Vice President for Campus Life Janet Smith Dickerson said.

While athletic departments are autonomous entities at many other universities, the entire Princeton athletic program — varsity, club and intramural sports — is overseen by the Office of Campus Life, which Dickerson heads.

The unusual organizational hierarchy is one symbol of Princeton's nontraditional philosophy toward athletic funding.

Zero-based budget

Of the athletic budget at Princeton, roughly 60 percent goes toward staff salaries and benefits for everyone in the department, and the other 40 percent funds operating and program expenses such as team travel and equipment.

Director of Athletics Gary Walters '67 said in an email that the University has an unusually efficient financial approach.

"Every year [the athletic department] implements a 'zero-based' budgeting approach . . . in order to maximize operating efficiencies within our budget," he said.

The "almost unique" method of financing involves beginning each year's budget with a blank slate, assessing needs individually and adjusting accordingly, Walters said.

"We attempt to stretch our budget by very carefully allocating our resources," Walters said. "The average Division IA athletic program costs approximately twice as much and supports only about 60 percent of the breadth of programming that we provide at Princeton."

Once the athletic department proposes a budget, it is scrutinized by the Priorities Committee. In 1999, another committee, the Athletic Budget Review Committee (ABRC), was founded to provide an added layer of financial oversight, Walters said.

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The vast majority of athletic funding at Princeton — between 75 and 80 percent, according to Walters — comes from "general funds," the University's general operating budget, composed of money from tuition and fees as well as the endowment.

The difference is made up by contributions from "friends" programs, corporate sponsors and individual donors. These special sources will be examined in further depth in the second and third parts of this series.

Many public schools rely far more on outside funding for their budgets than Princeton does.

"Generally, state institutions have regulations that may restrict the use of public funds to support an auxiliary enterprise like athletics," University of Virginia Athletic Director Craig Littlepage said.

Littlepage said private donations, ticket sales, sponsorships, television revenue, merchandising and student activity fees are key athletic financing sources at Virginia. At Princeton, those categories of funding are much less heavily relied upon.

At Michigan — like many other athletic powerhouses — the football program is a particularly central budgetary component that substantially inflates athletic financing.

There, the annual football budget is $42 million. Football revenues, though, are even higher: about $49 million per year, $14 million from ticket sales alone.

Walters did not release budgets for specific sports at the University.

Having more open funding sources and a recognized goal of "income" leaves schools like Virginia and Michigan more freedom in planning their athletic budgets.

Unique philosophy

Princeton's unusual funding strategy stems in part from the University's attitude toward athletics, administrators said. Dickerson said that at the University, athletics are simply one of many forms of educational enrichment.

Walters explained that the Ivy League athletic philosophy is unique among institutions of higher learning.

"Simply put, we view our playing fields as classrooms, venues where educational and individual development is taking place in all its various forms," Walters said.

While some universities focus on making athletics profitable, University officials said the mission of Princeton athletics makes this approach inappropriate.

"Unlike many other non-Ivy League programs, there is no expectation that we generate enough revenue to cover our costs," Associate Director of Athletics James Zaninovich said.

Walters called the budget "an 'investment' [in] the cognitive, social, emotional and physical development of our students."

With a relatively small athletic budget, the University is forced to make some difficult choices with its money.

Dickerson noted staff funding issues and identified support of "strength and conditioning staff" from general funds as a particular need.

She said she hopes to keep working on improving financing for recreational fitness and athletic facilities in Dillon Gym and Stephens Fitness Center.

Non-varsity teams also feel the effects of budget limitations. On the cheerleading team, for instance, captain Joanna Gaines '05 said that the majority of the funding does not come from the University.

The athletics department supplies cheerleaders with the basics, such as uniforms and pompoms, but Gaines said the team has ?been known to sing for its supper on more than one occasion.?

"The one major pressure point we continue to feel is in the staffing area, but I am sure there are many other departments at the University that would express the same concern," Walters said.