Here's what Trump said about Rutgers athletics spending losses
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Rutgers athletics had a $78 million loss last year and President Trump has noticed.
At his “Saving College Sports” roundtable at the White House Friday, March 6, Trump turned the talk to the financial strain some schools are under due to free-soending athletic departments.
“It’s grown into a major challenge that threatens the future of college sports,” Trump said. “Many are going to go down the tubes. It was announced that Penn State, their athletic division lost $535 million this past year. Florida State, $440 million loss. It was just announced that Rutgers lost $95 million and they’re doing all sorts of things to try and save the ship.”
Trump isn’t wrong about the spending woes though the $95 million figure he attributed to Rutgers is incorrect. The loss was bad but not that bad.
According to figures filed by Rutgers to the NCAA Membership Financial Reporting System in January, Rutgers’ athletics loss was actually $78 million. Revenue was $146.6 million but the department had expenses of $193.8 million and tapped an additional $30.9 million provided by the school via fees and direct funds.
Who attended Trump’s college sports roundtable?
Otherwise, nothing was really resolved at the “Saving College Sports” roundtable. At least the list of attendees, per USA Today, was notable:
- Val Ackerman, Big East commissioner
- Charlie Baker, NCAA president
- Pete Bevacqua, Notre Dame athletic director
- David Blitzer, managing partner of New Jersey Devils, Philadelphia 76ers
- Cody Campbell, Texas Tech donor and board member
- Gerry Cardinale, sports asset manager
- Joe Castiglione, former Oklahoma athletic director
- Jim Clements, former Clemson, West Virginia president
- Ted Cruz, U.S Senator (Texas)
- John Currie, Wake Forest athletic director
- Ron DeSantis, Florida governor
- Scott Dolson, Indiana athletic director
- John Donahue, Stanford athletic director
- Boris Epsthyen, President Trump advisor
- Marc Ganis, sports business expert
- Doug Girod, Kansas chancellor
- Jeff Gold, Nebraska president
- Jonathan Kraft, New England Patriots president
- Lou Lamoriello, former New Jersey Devils general manager
- Urban Meyer, former Florida/Ohio State coach
- Gloria Nevarez, Mountain West commissioner
- Tim Pernetti, American Conference commissioner
- Tony Petitti, Big Ten commissioner
- Jim Phillips, ACC commissioner
- Jimmy Pitaro, ESPN
- Donde Plowman, Tennessee chancellor
- Jamie Pollard, Iowa State athletic director
- Taylor Randall, University of Utah president
- Condolezza Rice, former secretary of state
- Nick Saban, former Alabama coach
- Greg Sankey, SEC commissioner
- Eric Schmitt, U.S. Senator (Missouri)
- Eric Shanks, Fox Sports CEO
- Adam Silver, NBA commissioner
- Jack Swarbrick, former Notre Dame athletic director
- Clay Travis, OutKick
- Charlie Ward, former Heisman Trophy winner
- Brett Yormark, Big 12 commissioner
This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Trump on Rutgers athletics spending losses: ‘Down the tubes’
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