Copyright 2002 Denver Publishing Company  
Rocky Mountain News (Denver, CO)
June 17, 2002 Monday Final Edition
Correction Appended
SECTION: SPORTS; Pg. 1C

LENGTH: 1109 words

HEADLINE: FOOTBALL CAUGHT IN A CATCH-22 POSITION;
ON ITS SHOULDERS LIE PROSPERITY, DISPARITY

BYLINE: Jody Berger, ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS

BODY:
Beat Nebraska, that's all fans ask.

To satisfy them, the University of Colorado puts as many as 100 men in uniform and sets them on the field.

The problem is, all these men, and all their scholarships, make it difficult for the university to satisfy another demanding group: investigators at the Office of Civil Rights.

Ever since Title IX outlawed gender discrimination in schools, the Office of Civil Rights has been charged with enforcement. And in athletics, football always has been the boulder blocking the road.

The law requires that schools offer men and women an equal opportunity to play and receive scholarship money.

One way to comply with the participation requirement is to show that the percentage of female athletes mirrors the percentage of women in the student body. With scholarship dollars, the only way to comply is to divide the money within one percentage point of the breakdown of male and female athletes.

But football, with its huge rosters, enormous budgets and overwhelming fan bases, dominates the college sports scene. No other sport - men's or women's - gobbles up as many resources or creates as much revenue.

"Football is untouchable," said Jack Maughan, the wrestling coach at the University of Northern Colorado, who sees his sport dying as schools struggle with compliance.

It's difficult for a school to show "substantial proportionality," when one men's team alone suits up more than 100 athletes.

Now toss in the NCAA rule book, which says 85 of those football players can accept scholarships at Division I-A schools.

Not a problem, except the rule book also says only 20 women on the crew team can be on scholarship, and rowing is the biggest sport for women.

According to NCAA rules, a Division I women's soccer team is limited to 12 scholarships. Same for women's softball. Together, all three sports can't balance football in scholarship money.

"Trying to give those scholarships within 1 percent is a Herculean task," said Colorado State University general counsel Brian Snow. "Professors at George Washington University wrote a paper showing how it is mathematically possible, but you've got to do higher math."

CSU offers only six teams for men - it's the minimum to remain in Division I-A - and nine for women.

The percentage of women's roster spots (47, according to the most recent Equity in Athletic Disclosure Act available) mirrors the percentage of women in the student body, even though the percentage of actual athletes is smaller.

CSU reported that 42 percent of scholarship dollars was awarded to women. Snow conceded the EADA report might have been for a year in which CSU had slipped. But, he maintains, the school is compliant if it factors in the difference between in-state and out-of-state tuition, the number of students who drop out and unused scholarships.

According to information on CU's most recent EADA form, 48 percent of Colorado students are women; 39 percent of athletes are, but 44 percent of athletic opportunities and 36 percent of the scholarship dollars are available to them.

The courts have not stated directly whether 4 percentage points - it's the difference at CU between female students and women's athletic opportunities - count as substantial proportionality. Factoring the difference between in-state and out-of-state tuition, the school maintains it is compliant with scholarships.

But there were days when neither school was Title IX-compliant. At the time, both schools faced budget shortfalls. They did what many other schools across the country were forced to do: They cut men's programs.

Eliminating men's teams doesn't help women gain opportunities, but schools take this route for a very simple reason.

"The financial model at most schools doesn't work," said Bob Chichester, an assistant athletic director at CU. "We have 17 sports at CU. Only one produces more revenue than expenses.

"To ask one program to raise revenue to support 16 others just doesn't work."

Women's advocates point out that football also has the biggest budget. They suggest slicing a piece of football's operating budget instead of slicing the entire budget for wrestling or baseball.

Chichester has heard this before, and he wishes it were that easy. "A significant portion of the budget is spent on scholarships, travel and salaries," he said, "and we can't control those costs."

Tuition at CU costs $28,000 to $30,000 a year for out-of-state students, about half that for in-state students. Academic counseling costs $650,000 a year, and airline tickets to take each player to every away game add into the hundreds of thousands.

If you subtract those fixed costs from the budget, not much is left. "The controllable costs are not significant when you look at a $30 million budget," Chichester said.

Of course, no school is required to award every scholarship allowed by NCAA rules. Often on teams other than football, schools don't award them all.

Schools also are not required to maintain top-of-the-line weight rooms, provide training tables for players' meals or pay high salaries to the coaching staff.

"To increase revenue, you have to be competitive," Chichester said. "And to be competitive, you have to increase expenses. How else are you going to compete with Texas, with Nebraska?"

The more competitive a football program is on the field, the more likely it is to pay its own way and help subsidize other parts of the athletic department.

Judging by information each school supplied under the Equity in Athletics Disclosure Act, many athletes on and off the gridiron owe their program to football.

Of the Top 25 football teams in the final Associated Press poll last season, 24 brought in enough money to subsidize their school's other teams. Seven generate enough revenue to foot all the bills within the athletic departments.

Only University of Toledo football lost money.

Among all big-time football programs - all 115 Division I-A schools - 31 lose money.

For a comparison, look at the Top 25 women's basketball programs. Seven reported paying for themselves; none could pay all the athletic department bills.

Of course, students should be treated equally whether they play for a team that makes money or one that loses money. And, in Title IX lawsuits, the courts consistently have said economics do not justify discrimination.

But without football, few Division I-A schools would have enough money to offer as many athletic opportunities to men or women.

It's not a perfect model, but what other model exists?

"If someone has the answers, they could be a very rich man or woman," Chichester said.

NOTES:
bergerj@RockyMountainNews.com or (303) 892-5386.;
SERIES / 30 years of TITLE IX;
Part 2 of 5;


CORRECTION:
*******CLARIFICATION PUBLISHED JUNE 20, 2002, ON PAGE 7C FOLLOWS: ******;
University of Colorado tuition figures of $28,000 to $30,000 for out-of-state students (half that for in-state students) reported Monday in Part 2 of the Title IX series actually were full-ride scholarships that include tuition, books and room and board.

GRAPHIC: Photo, By leaps and bounds, football expends the greatest amount of, resources yet creates the most revenue at the University of Colorado - and at, many other colleges and universities nationwide . Some people believe its, "untouchable" status is to blame for their sport's struggles. JOE MAHONEY , ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS

LOAD-DATE: June 26, 2002