Cal Poly men’s sports receive more funding, generate more revenue than women’s

A look at Cal Poly Athletics’ numbers in revenue and spending for men’s and women’s teams.

This story originally ran in print and online for Mustang News.

According to the U.S. Department of Education’s Equity in Athletics statistics, on a sport-by-sport basis, Cal Poly men’s sports teams generate more revenue for Cal Poly Athletics and receive a slight majority of the collected revenue. Male athletes, on average, receive more athletically-related student aid, have higher paid coaches and cost more on a game day basis for operations.

Where the money comes from

Overall, there are 18 intercollegiate sports sanctioned by the NCAA at Cal Poly that generated a total of $22,588,703 in the 2015–16 academic year, according to Equity in Athletics. This revenue comes from various sources including ticket sales, media rights and donations, among others.

In the data Cal Poly provided to Equity in Athletics, specifics aren’t provided in detail for revenue, but it is broken down into multiple sections based on sport or sports grouped together.

Football generated the most revenue of all Cal Poly sports in the reported data, generating $3,571,553 in total. Men’s basketball was second with $2,095,472 and women’s basketball was third in revenue for individual sports with $1,337,184 for 2015–16. Other revenue categories included total revenues of all men’s sports besides football and basketball — which totaled $3,873,521 — and all women’s sports besides basketball — which totaled $3,893,090. The final category included $7,817,883 in revenue not allocated by gender or sport.

In total, the men’s nine sports teams of 338 athletes make $4,310,271 more than the women’s 10 sports teams of 299 athletes.

Where the money goes

There are various expenses that are included within each of the intercollegiate sports at Cal Poly. But with data provided by Equity in Athletics, it’s broken down into four different categories.

1. Athletically-related student aid

Athletically-related student aid covers the costs of tuition, room and board and other expenses of being a student at Cal Poly. In athletically-related student aid, Cal Poly spent $4,764,829 during the 2015–16 academic year, the most of any of the four expense categories.

Men’s sports take in $2,742,122, 0r 58 percent, of the total athletically-related student aid while women’s sports take in the remaining $2,022,707, or 42 percent, of the aid. That means even though there are more male athletes at Cal Poly than female athletes, Cal Poly spends approximately $8,112 per male athlete and approximately $6,764 per female athlete in aid.

However, according to Cal Poly Athletics, they may spend more on financial aid for male athletes because of more out-of-state male players, varying course load per term, adding a new team or unexpected changes in the number of student-athletes. The scholarship money that would make men’s and women’s financial aid amounts compliant with Title IX goes to fund other sections of women’s sports, according to Barbara Martinez, associated athletic director of compliance for Cal Poly Athletics. Both are circumstances compliant with Title IX.

2. Recruiting expenses

Recruiting expenses relate to campus visits by student-athletes and their parents as well as costs of sending a coach to a student-athlete’s high school to have an in-person meeting with the recruit. For the 2015–16 academic year, Cal Poly Athletics spent $346,772 on recruiting expenses.

This expense category has one of the widest gaps between men’s and women’s sports at Cal Poly. Of the money spent on recruiting, men’s athletics take up 72 percent of the allotted money even though male athletes only make up 53 percent of the total number of athletes.

3. Operating expenses

Operating expenses refer to all the costs involved with the games of each sport. This totaled $2,874,895 in the data provided.

Men’s sports’ total operating expense for 2015–16 was $2,012,657, while women’s was $862,238.

4. Salaries

Salaries refer to pay given to head and assistant coaches. Cal Poly spent $1,745,514 on head coaches’ salaries in 2015–16 and $1,719,673 on assistant coaches’ salaries.

The difference in coaches’ salaries in terms of gender is huge. Men’s head coaches make an average of $118,096, more than the women’s head coaches; average salary of $75,850. That margin isn’t quite so profound in the assistant coach ranks, with men’s assistant coaches making an average of $41,230 compared to the $33,249 salary of women’s assistant coaches.

Correction: A previous version of this article stated that the financial aid distribution for female and male athletes violates Title IX’s stipulations about equity in spending. However, according to Cal Poly Athletics, they may spend more on financial aid for male athletes because of more out-of-state male players. The scholarship money that would make men’s and women’s financial aid amounts compliant with Title IX goes to fund other sections of women’s sports. Both are circumstances compliant with Title IX.