Different budgets, similar goals
When it comes time for the University of Nevada to play rival University of Nevada, Las Vegas, the outcome is generally a toss-up.
The Wolf Pack has its winning streaks, as do the Rebels, but neither team has dominated a single sport indefinitely.
Currently, after 32 meetings in football between the two schools, Nevada is leading the all-time series record 17-15.
Off the field and behind the scenes, however, where money is the driving force of an athletics department, the two schools do not level off as evenly as on the playing field.
For the current school year, as told to the Nevada System of Higher Education in June, Nevada’s reported athletic budget is roughly $20 million, while UNLV’s is estimated at $24.8 million.
Each school’s budget is broken down into three main categories for monetary spending, which include operating costs, financial aid and coaches’ salaries.
Operating costs include expenses such as team travel, recruiting funds, rental of facilities (Lawlor Events Center at Nevada), maintenance, security, basic office supplies and marketing/promotions.
Financial aid includes the scholarships provided to the athletes that cover their room, board and books.
According to NSHE, Nevada will receive $6,763,868 for operating funds from the state of Nevada and UNLV will receive $8,940,854.
From there, it is each school’s job to gain enough revenue to cover the remaining expenses for the year.
In UNR’s case, additional revenue comes mainly from ticket sales and private donations (development), said John Nunn, associate athletic director at UNR. However, other sources include marketing/promotions, concession sales, royalties, NCAA and Western Athletic Conference.
“For us, the most visible evidence of development activity is the current construction of the Marguerite Wattis Petersen Foundation Athletic Academic Center,” Nunn said.
UNLV’s budget is funded by many of the same areas with some differing percentages, such as gaining 15 percent of its revenue through ticket sales, while Nevada only receives 10 percent of its revenue from ticket sales, NSHE recorded in its June meeting minutes.
In 2005-2006, the most recent year that final statistics were provided for, the Chronicle of Higher education reported that both schools’ total budgets were less than $500,000 different, compared to the projected budgets for 2007-2008.
Two seasons ago, operating costs were $12,694,770 for the Wolf Pack. UNLV operating costs registered at $16,025,265.
In the same document, UNLV’s reported scholarship budget was roughly $5,050,000, compared to Nevada’s approximated $4,230,000 scholarship allocation.
UNLV’s coaching staff, as a whole, is also paid nearly double of what the coaching staff at Nevada receives. This is the big one. In 2005-2006, the Rebels coaching budget was $4,831,700 million, while the Wolf Pack’s was comparatively speaking, a measly $2,854,535 million.
Additionally, recruitment budgets between the two schools vary greatly as UNLV has two and a half times as much money dedicated towards recruiting new athletes.
With UNLV dominating the budget in all aspects of its composition, Nevada must carefully use what they do have to continue to produce quality teams, Nevada Associate Athletic Director Cindy Fox said.
Schools that are not in conferences such as the Pac-10 Conference or Big 12 Conference are known for having mediocre teams because of their enrollment numbers, Fox said.
Athletes look at the financial aid that they will be provided with and the caliber of the teams that the school has, she added.
Less recruiting money, along with less money for operations and coach salaries, means there are fewer chances for Nevada to pull student-athletes into the program because the athletes may not see as much stability in a smaller school, Fox said.
“When I talk to recruits, I always tell them to come here for the school because that is what will ultimately get them the furthest in life,” Fox said.
Differing budgets also come into play when looking at the different conferences each school is a part of, Nunn said.
The Wolf Pack is part of the Western Athletic Conference, which includes nine schools in the states of Nevada, California, Louisiana, Hawaii, New Mexico, Idaho and Utah. The Rebels belong to the Mountain West Conference, which also contains nine schools and stretches from Nevada to Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, Texas, California and Wyoming.
However, while both schools have similar travel expenses due to the distances they travel and the amount of teams they each have, the size of the schools impose the largest impact on the budget, Nunn said.
On average, each school in the MWC has 22,650 students, including UNLV, which is slightly above the average size with 28,000 students. The Rebels also have 53 coaches on staff (15 head coaches, 38 assistant coaches).
In the WAC, an average school has 19,675 students. Wolf Pack athletics has 44 coaches on its staff: 15 head coaches, 29 assistant coaches.
“Operating costs will vary depending on the number of sports sponsored and their respective needs as far as travel schedules, recruiting needs, equipment needs and facilities operations and maintenance,” Nunn said. “I might add when looking at salaries, it would not only be the difference in salary levels, but number of employees also.”
There has often been talk, as Nevada’s teams have continued to improve, surrounding the question of if the Wolf Pack would ever switch conferences, possibly even to play in the same conference as UNLV at some point.
While many believe it would support the rivalry between the two schools, it is an administrative and institutional decision, Nunn said.
“The important thing to remember is that an institution has to be invited to move,” he said.
So while Nevada is even with UNLV in its winning potential, its finances come in at second best and will most likely continue to do so until the day comes when Nevada is at the point where it is ready to move up to a bigger conference with bigger options.
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September 25th, 2007 at 9:36 am
“neither team has dominated a single sport indefinitely.”
Take a look at the basketball record between the two schools. I think that is dominance.
As for the budget I don’t hear many UNR students complaining about the academic budget imbalance or the fact that northern Nevada gets far more tax revenue than their tax base generates.
September 25th, 2007 at 10:48 am
Hey Jack….save the tax talk for political discussions. Nevada Athletics is far more efficient w/ its dollars than it’s branch institution to the south. Your school is a joke, as is the campus. Go away now. Prepare for a pummeling and another year of a blue cannon!
September 25th, 2007 at 2:04 pm
Tough talk for a school that has a whopping 2 game lead in the series! How soon you forget that UNLV has won 5 of the last 7 football games. How soon you forget the UNLV won at Lawlor last year in hoops. How soon you forget the dominance the UNLV basketball program has had on UNR for the last 30 years.
This is your biggest game of the year. Your own students don’t show up for any game except this one. The reason why is you can’t stand UNLV because you have an inferiority complex for UNLV and Southern Nevada. You are the big brother that had to watch the little brother exceed anything the big brother could ever dream of accomplishing. It hurts that when even when your basketball team had 15 minutes of fame everyone around the country thought it was UNLV doesn’t it?
Get ready to throw your bottles, batteries, or anything else at the Rebels on Saturday. We’ll be glad to wade through all of that and bring the Cannon back to Vegas.
September 25th, 2007 at 7:59 pm
Nevada has the inferiority complex…yet you are the one on OUR board pleading your case?
Explain to me how that works.
Nevada has the inferiority complex…yet you refuse to acknowledge the proper name for the athletic team. Sounds like at least one student at the branch campus is upset that we can call ourselves Nevada.
Nevada “only” has a two game lead in the series…but let’s remember one other important thing. Many of those games were played when Nevada was D-IAA, and yet Nevada still has a lead in the series.
Good luck with your degree in stripping or buffet management or whatever it is they hand out degrees for nowadays at Nevada Southern.
September 26th, 2007 at 9:35 pm
Your name is the University of Nevada, Reno. So says the Board of Regents. Call yourselves whatever you want. If I were you I wouldn’t want to acknowledge that the school is in Reno either.
As for the lame jokes about the degrees offered at UNLV, you should check your facts. Your own Sagebrush in this issue has an article stating UNLV has passed UNR acedemically. The two degrees I earned from UNLV have served me fine as I own my own business and have been successful. I hope you are as well.
September 29th, 2007 at 6:35 pm
27-20
Blue Cannon
Go back to Nevada Southern and shut it.