An Investigation of Financial Spending and Distributive Justice Principles in NCAA Division I Athletic Departments

The Knight Commission cites two critical spending issues in Division I college athletics: the imbalance of rapidly rising expenditures against slowmoving revenues and the widening gap between wealthy conferences and struggling conferences (2009). The purpose of this study is to compare expenditure trends in men's revenue sports, men's non-revenue sports, and female sports from 2006-2009, to determine if differences in distributive justice principles exist in budget decisions of athletic departments that fall within three Division I classifications: Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), and the Non-Football Subdivision (Division I without Football). FBS institutions were found to almost completely abide by equity principles when making budgetary decisions while the FCS and Non-Football Subdivision made more decisions founded in principles of equality and need.