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<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""><font face="Arial" class="">Dear Senators:</font></span></p>
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<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""><font face="Arial" class="">As you know our five ASUO student senators and eight co-sponsors are bringing a resolution to the Senate this Wednesday supporting ASUO’s decision to end the $1.8M student
ticket contract with the Athletics Department and repurpose that part of the student “I-Fee” controlled by ASUO towards programs to support students’ basic needs. </font></span></p>
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<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""><font face="Arial" class="">The resolution also opposes the administration’s proposal to create a new mandatory fee (about $2M when fully implemented) which will be controlled by the UO administration,
to pay athletics for providing student tickets for football and basketball games, using a lottery scheme.</font></span></p>
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<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""><font face="Arial" class="">This resolution is <a href="https://senate.uoregon.edu/senate-motions/us2021-08-supporting-asuos-decision-repurpose-student-i-fee-money-and-opposing-new" style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(13, 133, 204); text-decoration: none;" class="">here</a>.
The gist is:</font></span></p>
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<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""><font face="Arial" class="">2.1 THEREFORE BE IT MOVED THAT the University Senate calls on UO Administration and the Board of Trustees to respect ASUO’s autonomy and authority over their own budget.</font></span></p>
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<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""><font face="Arial" class="">2.2 BE IT FURTHER MOVED THAT the University Senate supports the decision by the ASUO Student Senate to reject the proposals from the UO Administration that ASUO send a
portion of the money they have saved as a result of not paying for tickets during the pandemic to UO’s Athletic Department, and to instead support basic needs programs and return money to students.</font></span></p>
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<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""><font face="Arial" class="">2.3 BE IT FINALLY MOVED THAT the University Senate opposes the new mandatory Athletics fee on students for the ticket lottery, and calls on President Schill to work with
the Athletics Department to provide adequate funding for student tickets from the Athletic Department’s other sources of funding, or adopt a voluntary plan by which those students who want to attend intercollegiate sporting events can purchase a package of
tickets from the Athletic Department for the student section at reduced prices.</font></span></div>
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<font face="Arial" class=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""><font color="#333333" class="">I’ve been in many past discussions in the Senate and committees on the subject of the athletic budget, and I’ve heard many arguments against
attempts to get the athletics department to pay more of its own way. Given the way these discussions usually go, </font></span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); color: rgb(51, 51, 51);" class="">I want to note that opposing this new fee is
not a statement of opposition to college athletics, or to UO’s athletic department. This new fee is unlikely to matter much to athletics.</span></font></p>
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<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""><font face="Arial" class="">The AD’s overall revenue for FY 19-20 (just operating revenue) was $140M. It grows at about 3-5% a year, so this $1.8M is about 1.4% of their total budget and about 1/3
of the annual increase to their budget. Their revenues last year included $26M in media rights, $8M from the NCAA, PAC-12, and bowl games, $6M from concessions, $18M from royalties and licensing, and $298M in donations (this last presumably includes gifts
for capital, e.g. Hayward Field). See <a href="https://secureservercdn.net/50.62.89.79/09b.278.myftpupload.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/2020-NCAA-report.pdf" class="">
https://secureservercdn.net/50.62.89.79/09b.278.myftpupload.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/2020-NCAA-report.pdf</a></font></span></p>
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<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""><font face="Arial" class="">The student section of football and basketball games is an important part of the TV show, and if the UO students don’t pay a mandatory fee for tickets, or if UO athletics
does not provide a voluntary option for discounted tickets as at for example Texas, the athletic department has the means and the motive to provide free tickets to interested students.</font></span></p>
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<font face="Arial" class=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""><font color="#333333" class="">I<span style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51);" class="">’</span>ve often heard the argument that a successful athletic department is important
for recruiting out of state students. I’ve heard many anecdotes about this, pro and con. </font></span><font color="#333333" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">The empirical evidence on this is very mixed. The most recent paper I’ve found
is </font></font><a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7072/7/2/19" class=""><font color="#333333" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">“</font><strong style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); color: rgb(51, 51, 51); box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" class="">The
Impact of College Athletic Success on Donations and Applicant Quality</strong><font color="#333333" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">“</font></a><font face="Arial" class=""><font color="#333333" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">,
Baumer and Zimbalist (2019):</font></font></p>
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<div style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" class="">
<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""><font face="Arial" class=""><strong style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" class="">Abstract: </strong>For the 65 colleges and universities that participate in the
Power Five athletic conferences (Pac 12, Big 10, SEC, ACC, and Big 12), the football and men’s basketball teams are highly visible. While these programs generate tens of millions of dollars in revenue annually, very few of them turn an operating “profit.”
Their existence is thus justified by the claim that athletic success leads to ancillary benefits for the academic institution, in terms of both quantity (e.g., more applications, donations, and state funding) and quality (e.g., stronger applicants, lower acceptance
rates, higher yields). Previous studies provide only weak support for some of these claims.
<b class="">Using data from 2006–2016 and a multiple regression model with corrections for multiple testing, we find that while a successful football program is associated with more applicants, there is no effect on the composition of the student body or (with
a few caveats) funding for the school through donations or state appropriations.</b></font></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""><font face="Arial" class="">In any case a $2M mandatory fee is unlikely to make the difference between a winning and losing season.</font></span></div>
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<font face="Arial" class=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""><font color="#333333" class="">I<span style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51);" class="">’</span>ve also heard the argument that a successful a</font></span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""><font color="#333333" class="">thletics
program improves campus life by creating a sense of group belonging. This seems plausible, but should be seen in the context of decreased student grades during winning seasons, e.g. </font></span><span style="color: rgb(53, 60, 63); font-variant-ligatures: normal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial;" class="">Lindo,
Jason M., Isaac D. Swensen, and Glen R. Waddell. </span><span class="year" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; display: inline; color: rgb(53, 60, 63); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial;">2012.</span><span style="color: rgb(53, 60, 63); font-variant-ligatures: normal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial;" class=""> </span><span class="title" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; display: inline; color: rgb(53, 60, 63); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial;">"Are
Big-Time Sports a Threat to Student Achievement?"</span><span style="color: rgb(53, 60, 63); font-variant-ligatures: normal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial;" class=""> </span><a href="https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/app.4.4.254" class=""><span class="journal" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: italic; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(53, 60, 63); display: inline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial;">American
Economic Journal: Applied Economics</span><span style="color: rgb(53, 60, 63); font-variant-ligatures: normal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial;" class="">, </span><span class="vol" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; display: inline; color: rgb(53, 60, 63); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial;">4
(4): 254-74<span class="pages" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; display: inline;">.</span></span></a> and
The impact of college football on academic achievement, Rey Hernández-Julián and Kurt W. Rotthoff, <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0272775714000806?via=ihub" class="">here</a>.</font></div>
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<font face="Arial" class="">However, again, regardless of which way you feel about this issue, instituting a new mandatory fee is unlikely to impact either group cohesion or student grades - our athletic department will continue on with or without this fee. </font></div>
<div class=""><font face="Arial" class="">I hop you will join our students in opposing this new mandatory fee. </font></div>
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<font face="Arial" class=""><br class="Apple-interchange-newline">
Bill Harbaugh</font></div>
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<font face="Arial" class="">UO Economics</font></div>
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<font face="Arial" class=""><a href="mailto:harbaugh@uoregon.edu" class="">harbaugh@uoregon.edu</a></font></div>
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