No, it is accurate. The schools project losses so that all looks good on paper...but the increase in coaches salaries, facilities, and booster money are beyond debate. Else why would so many smaller schools be going D-I? To get in on the money, that's why.
No that's not why at all, it's
prestige, it's ego, it's people spending someone else's money
. Look at the UAB football program, it was legitimately losing money. It took an increase in donations to get them to restart it. It was a bold move to because folding a huge money loser at a university is verboten, the things practically exist to waste money. The idea that a university does anything to make money is pretty funny, they waste money, that's what universities do.
As it was they were already subsidized millions every year, their athletic department is a financial black hole. Nearly every athletic department is subsidized and that's after the donations from boosters! They have to get a basket of city and state dollars, often some from the University and then booster money thrown in to support their spending. I can name program after program that loses millions, tens of millions in some cases, every single year.
You listed booster money but you get that's all donations right? They are literally donations to pay for those things you cited. These athletic departments are run on the non-profit model, and truth be told they probably waste less money than a lot of charities. Either way, we're talking billions annually given to athletic departments.
There are some football programs making legit money, but that quickly gets siphoned off by Title IX, and the rest of the athletic department. The money keeps the lights on so to speak. Within the athletic department it isn't like there's some rich guy building spaceships with his profits or something. For every dollar an athletic department generates in revenue, there's a substantial part of that that is subsidized and then virtually every cent is spent on the athletic department. That's how it works.
Now I've spared you the math, but if we continue I will bring that into the equation. We already addressed donations so boosters are covered. Now let's talk facilities. Who pray tell are the facilities for? They're for the players. It works like any university works (and if you've been on any decent campus you'll see there's all sorts of lavish spending on stuff for students, we can question the wisdom of for instance a giant kiln but they're not running a profitable business out of it I can assure you). How about salaries? Surely that's wrong right?
They're a college! What are coaches if not teachers? If the colleges did not pay them competitive salaries all the best coaches would work in the NFL. It's that simple. Alabama is a great example. The Alabama coaches coach up their players and their increase in earning far exceeds what the coaches are paid. The coaches have to be paid competitively or the players will suffer.
So, once again we have a non profit model, donations from boosters, facilities for the players, and coaches getting paid to teach them. So where's this profit? Where's the money? Who is sitting on a pile of it within the university? It all gets spent. Sure there's creative accounting, to spend more on football players, to get around Title IX and so on, but the programs spend a massive amount of money. Girls teams get flow around in private jets and so on, I welcome anyone to direct me to the hoard of wealth because in all the years I've spent looking into things I haven't found that. Every bit of evidence I've seen indicates that the athletic departments generally spend every cent and are often hungry for more.
Edit: Let me add one final thing, if I recall correctly Phil Knight has donated over a billion dollars to Oregon. Why on earth would he ever do it if he knew it was just going to fill some coffers someplace or to make some guy rich? He's smart enough, and rich enough, and had good enough accountants to figure out where that money is going. All the evidence I've seen, and presumably all the evidence he has seen indicates it's being spent on the athletic department, or why on earth would he keep up such lavish donations if it wasn't? No one donates millions to the Dallas Cowboys of the New England Patriots now do they?
