<p>The vast majority of colleges that don’t have big-time football programs have athletic departments and intercollegiate sports, too, and must support the non-revenue and low-revenue sports with large subsidies from their general fund. To the extent surplus football revenue relieves the general fund of that obligation, it’s a direct benefit to the educational mission of the university because it frees up money for other uses.</p>
<p>Also, it’s not all that uncommon or “exceptional” for the most financially successful athletic programs to help fund general university operating expenses. For example, in both FY 2009 and FY 2010, the University of Michigan Athletic Department transferred $1.6 million to the University’s general fund to support undergraduate need-based financial aid. That’s in addition to the $15 million the Athletic Department spends each year to provide athletic financial aid, including tuition, room & board, and books (the maximum permitted under NCAA rules) to 476 student-athletes competing in 25 men’s and women’s sports, the vast majority of them non-revenue or low-revenue sports. It’s only talented athletes who get these scholarships, of course, but a lot of college gymnasts, golfers, swimmers, and tennis players are also serious students and for many the athletic scholarship represents a ticket to a college they might not otherwise be able to afford.</p>