Athletics: The Campus Brand Engine Everyone Keeps Calling a Cost Center

In higher education, few topics spark as much polarized debate as athletics. For every fan waving the flag of school spirit and national exposure, there’s a faculty member or budget hawk questioning the cost.

But here’s a truth we need to say out loud: On most campuses, athletics is not the budget-devouring behemoth it’s made out to be. In fact, if often represents just 1-5% of an institution’s total operating budget. Yet its impact, particularly in brand value, is disproportionately powerful.

So why does this relatively modest investment keep getting cast as a financial villain? And more importantly, what’s the actual return on that investment?

The Perception Problem: Cost Without Context

Let’s start with basic math. Even at Division I programs where travel, facilities and coaching salaries run high, athletics typically comprises a sliver of the institution’s overall budget. But unlike academic departments, the athletics department tends to have the highest visibility — literally.

Sports are the only campus program aired on national television, trending on social media and reported in local media. With that visibility comes scrutiny. But visibility is also value.

The Brand Multiplier Effect

Athletics serves as a brand amplifier for colleges and universities. It reaches audiences that traditional marketing can’t touch: prospective students who may have never visited campus, donors who feel a deeper emotional connection to a winning program, and alumni who reconnect through shared game-day experiences.

Every time your logo flashes across a nationally televised game or trends during March Madness, you’re generating brand value that can’t be quantified and using the same tools advertisers use to price airtime or influencer impressions.

Here’s a high-level way to think about it:

• Impression-based valuation: Each view of your school’s brand on TV, social media or even a scoreboard is worth something. Multiply those impressions by standard advertising rates, and the media value adds up fast.
• Engagement-based valuation: Go beyond views. What’s it worth when fans like, share or comment on a student-athlete’s post? Or when your university’s highlight reel makes it onto a major sports account?
• Broadcast exposure: Appearances on national broadcasts — particularly prime-time matchups with high rankings and visible logos — can yield tens of thousands of dollars in equivalent media value per game.

In fact, when you blend impressions, visibility and engagement, the ROI of athletics can rival or exceed traditional advertising budgets. And this doesn’t even account for long-term gains like increased applications or enhanced donor philanthropy due to name recognition.

Beyond the Broadcast: Long-Term Institutional Gains from Athletic Visibility

When we talk about the value of athletics, most people think in terms of ticket sales, TV deals or even NIL endorsements. But there’s a deeper, more enduring benefit that athletics delivers, one that often gets overlooked in financial reports and budget meetings: the long-tail impact on enrollment, philanthropy and institutional prestige.

Increased Applications and Enrollment Momentum

There’s a well-documented phenomenon known as the “Flutie Effect,” referring to a surge in college applications following high-profile athletic success. This isn’t just an anecdotal trend; it’s a measurable enrollment marketing effect.

• Exposure drives interest. A team’s success on a national stage introduces the institution to millions who may have never heard of it otherwise. In today’s hypercompetitive higher ed market, awareness is everything.
• Athletics serves as an emotional entry point. For many prospective students, especially those outside an institution’s regional footprint, sports becomes the first (and sometimes only) reason they know a college exists.
• Increased selectivity and yield. More applications can improve admission selectivity and yield rates, key drivers in national rankings. For schools looking to climb the U.S. News ladder, athletics can be an accelerator.

Importantly, the impact extends beyond student-athletes. The halo of visibility attracts non-athletes seeking a vibrant campus life, school spirit and national identify — elements increasingly sought after by Gen Z.

Enhanced Donor Philanthropy and Alumni Engagement

Athletics also plays a catalytic role in donor behavior:

• Emotion leads to giving. Alumni who reconnect through game-day experiences, championship runs or NIL success stories are more likely to give not just to athletics, but across the university as well.
• Athletic giving is a gateway. Many major institutional donors begin their relationship by giving to athletics, especially if they’re former athletes or fans. Over time, their philanthropy can expand into academic or capital giving.
• Events become development platforms. Bowl games, Final Fours and even regular-season matchups provide high-touch environments for donor cultivation. These aren’t just sporting events. They’re relationship-building assets.
• Storytelling leverage. Institutions can use athletic success stories to highlight student leadership, academic achievement and diversity — all critical themes in modern advancement strategy.

The emotional resonance of athletics offers a platform few other campus units can match. It’s about recognizing and using athletics as a relational bridge.

Why It Still Feels Risky: Athletics as a Financial Wild Card

All of this doesn’t mean athletics comes without risk. In fact, from a finance and risk management perspective, athletics presents a unique challenge:

• Volatile revenue streams: Media contracts, ticket sales and donations can fluctuate wildly based on team performance.
• Fixed costs: Coaching salaries, scholarships, facility debt service and athlete revenue sharing are largely fixed regardless of performance.
• Compliance and reputation risks: NCAA violations, NIL missteps and athlete conduct can have reputational ripple effects.

In risk terms, athletics is a high-volatility, high-return asset. Unlike a chemistry department, it can’t simply be measured by expenses versus course credits. It must be viewed through the lens of institutional positioning and strategic reach.

The Strategic Question: Is Your Investment Working Hard Enough?

The question isn’t “Should we invest in athletics?” but rather “Are we leveraging athletics strategically?” Institutions that understand the real media value of their sports programs are using modern valuation frameworks to:

• Benchmark media exposure value against actual marketing spend.
• Align NIL, licensing and sponsorship strategy with digital engagement data.
• Inform strategic communications and advancement by mapping sports visibility to donor behavior and engage with donors at sporting events.

Tools exist that estimate the dollar value of every branded highlight, post or broadcast. Suffice it to say, you may be sitting on a brand asset worth far more than you’re accounting for.

It’s time to stop treating athletics as a problem to be solved and start approaching it as a marketing asset — one that, if measured and managed strategically, can generate significant returns. A winning season may last one semester. A viral highlight may trend for 24 hours. But the institutional lift that athletics can provide in applications, engagement and lifelong giving can shape a university’s trajectory for years. It’s a compounding return not easily captured in a budget line, but undeniable when you look at the big picture.

Whether you’re making the case to trustees, aligning with advancement or defending your budget in the provost’s office, James Moore’s collegiate athletics CPAs and consultants can help you tell the full story with data, context and credibility.

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