Elizabeth Hardy | 2026 I.S. Symposium

Name: Elizabeth Hardy
Title: The Financial Impact of Adding or Cutting Athletic Teams on College Financial Sustainability
Major: Business Economics
Advisor: Melanie Long

This study looks at how adding a college athletic team affects institutional financial sustainability. This is an important topic because of the growth and evolution of Name, Image, and Likness (NIL) policies, increased interest in women’s sports, and rising institutional pressures. Using a pane data set of 944 NCAA member institutions from 2008 to 2023 (15,104 institution-year observations), merged from IPEDS and the Equity in Athletics Disclosure Act (EADA). The analysis looks at differences across institutions as well as changes within each institution over time. Financial outcomes, including endowment per student, athletic department revenue, and athletic department expenses, along with total enrollment, are expressed in natural logarithms to account for skewness and allow interpretation as approximate percentage changes. The analysis uses Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regressions, both baseline and with controls, along with fixed-effects panel models. The results indicate that the financial impact of expanding athletics depends on team gender. Adding a men’s team is associated with a 4.2% decrease in endowment per student, while adding a women’s team is associated with a 1.9% increase. Within athletic departments increases in expenses are closely matched by revenue gains, this suggests that for athletic departments additions are roughly cost neutral. These findings imply that adding a sports team does not automatically improve institutional finances. That being said strategically investing in women’s teams may provide some long-term benefits, while men’s programs can impose higher endowment pressures. These results highlight that the financial impact of adding or cutting teams depends on team type and institutional context.

Posted in Symposium 2026 on May 1, 2026.