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Board of Trustees Election / BTN Revenue


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Thanks for the link to the article. Because of the link I participated in a trustee vote for the first time.

The article mentions Robbie taking roughly 27 million of Big Ten Network money to help pay for an academic building. While I agree academics should come first ( and let’s face it, the academic side of IU has not exactly thrived under Robbie....he has done a poor job) I do not understand why he could not have taken those funds from the IU endowment which is approximately 2,229,000,000.  Why do universities have this never ending thirst  to build huge endowments?  When is the pile of dough big enough? Tapping the endowment for the 27 million, and leaving all the BT network money for the athletic department, would have reduced the endowment to 2,202,000,000 which is basically a rounding error. 

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1 hour ago, IU878176 said:

Thanks for the link to the article. Because of the link I participated in a trustee vote for the first time.

The article mentions Robbie taking roughly 27 million of Big Ten Network money to help pay for an academic building. While I agree academics should come first ( and let’s face it, the academic side of IU has not exactly thrived under Robbie....he has done a poor job) I do not understand why he could not have taken those funds from the IU endowment which is approximately 2,229,000,000.  Why do universities have this never ending thirst  to build huge endowments?  When is the pile of dough big enough? Tapping the endowment for the 27 million, and leaving all the BT network money for the athletic department, would have reduced the endowment to 2,202,000,000 which is basically a rounding error. 

Frankly, I don't see how the endowment could survive on a meager 2,202,000,000.  😉

I'm going to be really interested to see how this vote plays out.  I was told that maybe only around 15K historically vote in these, and I've had more than 600 click the link to vote just out of my article over the last day.

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2 hours ago, The Daily Hoosier said:

Frankly, I don't see how the endowment could survive on a meager 2,202,000,000.  😉

I'm going to be really interested to see how this vote plays out.  I was told that maybe only around 15K historically vote in these, and I've had more than 600 click the link to vote just out of my article over the last day.

Yep, I voted for this guy for the first time ever as well... It’s actually pretty shockingly easy.  Probably won’t make a difference, but worth a shot I guess.

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Someone can start a new thread but wanted to mention Big Ten expected to announce Kevin Warren as new Big 10 Commissioner today. Would be first African American Commissioner of P5 Conference. Deep NFL connections. Key role in Vikings organization, stadium being built up there,etc....

We all owe a big debt of gratitude to Jim Delany. His vision allows us to get this $45M+ each year from BTN. Will be curious to see how Warren takes the reigns and goes from here. 

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11 hours ago, IU878176 said:

Thanks for the link to the article. Because of the link I participated in a trustee vote for the first time.

The article mentions Robbie taking roughly 27 million of Big Ten Network money to help pay for an academic building. While I agree academics should come first ( and let’s face it, the academic side of IU has not exactly thrived under Robbie....he has done a poor job) I do not understand why he could not have taken those funds from the IU endowment which is approximately 2,229,000,000.  Why do universities have this never ending thirst  to build huge endowments?  When is the pile of dough big enough? Tapping the endowment for the 27 million, and leaving all the BT network money for the athletic department, would have reduced the endowment to 2,202,000,000 which is basically a rounding error. 

What do you suggest we spend the BTN money on instead?

Is lack of money holding the basketball program back? If so, I'm all for giving them more of that money, but I'm not aware of anything we're lacking. I'm not necessarily opposed to spending more on football, but, again, I would want some sort of explanation of what we lack and how the money would make us a better team. Other sports should have safe, functioning equipment, they should have competent coaches and they should have medical support - other than that I don't see why every cent of BTN money shouldn't be funneled into providing an actual education to the students of IU. 

I agree that endowments are criminally under utilized, but that seems to be a separate issue.  

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26 minutes ago, HoosierDom said:

What do you suggest we spend the BTN money on instead?

Is lack of money holding the basketball program back? If so, I'm all for giving them more of that money, but I'm not aware of anything we're lacking. I'm not necessarily opposed to spending more on football, but, again, I would want some sort of explanation of what we lack and how the money would make us a better team. Other sports should have safe, functioning equipment, they should have competent coaches and they should have medical support - other than that I don't see why every cent of BTN money shouldn't be funneled into providing an actual education to the students of IU. 

I agree that endowments are criminally under utilized, but that seems to be a separate issue.  

They could use it to pay recruits instead of relying on shoe companies which we now know have a hard time covering their tracks.

Then we could self report followed by self impose and bury the the Athletic Dept completely which would eliminate the issues caused by the $ in question as it would no longer be flowing in.

Just a complete implosion only leaving behind a handful of book smart nerds in its wake to genetically modify a newer, yet better version of.. ahh, I got nothing. If only I had an imagination.

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Among public universities Texas is number 1 with an endowment over $30 billion! We have a huge problem in this country with college tuition greatly outpacing the rate of inflation and schools are sitting on piles of money while their students and alumni rack up enormous amounts of debt - the same alumni they call monthly to donate to their f'n endowments! The top twenty public universities' endowments almost add up to $90 billion. 

Private Universities are even worse. BUT these are PUBLIC universities. Which begs the question: Why are public Universities syphoning money away from the public? Strangely the beneficiaries of this money are universities where money is hoarded and banks. 

I understand that bigger endowments mean that it yields a higher amount of interest, and from what I quickly googled,  these endowments have a annual withdrawal rate of 4-5%. BUT this still seems too little. And after further research (very quick Googling), in many instances Universities won't precisely answer how much of that withdrawal rate goes to tuition relief. 

Great, now I worked myself up. 

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1 hour ago, HoosierDom said:

What do you suggest we spend the BTN money on instead?

Is lack of money holding the basketball program back? If so, I'm all for giving them more of that money, but I'm not aware of anything we're lacking. I'm not necessarily opposed to spending more on football, but, again, I would want some sort of explanation of what we lack and how the money would make us a better team. Other sports should have safe, functioning equipment, they should have competent coaches and they should have medical support - other than that I don't see why every cent of BTN money shouldn't be funneled into providing an actual education to the students of IU. 

I agree that endowments are criminally under utilized, but that seems to be a separate issue.  

IU facilities are viewed as middle of the road in conference.  Which means they are even further behind the historical blue bloods like UNC, Duke, Kentucky, etc. Look at the student dorms that the basketball players live in at Kansas. Kansas spent $12 mil on a dorm that allows 17 other student live in besides the basketball players, to fit the NCAA rules. NC State just built $15 million dorms for athletes. IU isn’t on that level. In fact, IU dorms have/had mold issues. Sure Cook Hall is great, but the top tier programs offer a different level of lifestyle to prospects, that IU just doesn’t. 

Edit: It’s not just bricks and mirror either. The money could be used for educational opportunities abroad. Michigan, paid by a single alumnus, sends the entire football program on a weeks vacation/education trip a year. Rome, Paris, South Africa, and next year will be Rio. BTN money could be used for the basketball team to do something like this. 

Recruiting is totally different today, than in the 70’s and 80’s. 

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15 minutes ago, Feathery said:

IU facilities are viewed as middle of the road in conference.  Which means they are even further behind the historical blue bloods like UNC, Duke, Kentucky, etc. Look at the student dorms that the basketball players live in at Kansas. Kansas spent $12 mil on a dorm that allows 17 other student live in besides the basketball players, to fit the NCAA rules. NC State just built $15 million dorms for athletes. IU isn’t on that level. In fact, IU dorms have/had mold issues. Sure Cook Hall is great, but the top tier programs offer a different level of lifestyle to prospects, that IU just doesn’t. 

Edit: It’s not just bricks and mirror either. The money could be used for educational opportunities abroad. Michigan, paid by a single alumnus, sends the entire football program on a weeks vacation/education trip a year. Rome, Paris, South Africa, and next year will be Rio. BTN money could be used for the basketball team to do something like this. 

Recruiting is totally different today, than in the 70’s and 80’s. 

Paleeze, don't get Scott started...again.😉

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8 hours ago, tdhoosier said:

Among public universities Texas is number 1 with an endowment over $30 billion! We have a huge problem in this country with college tuition greatly outpacing the rate of inflation and schools are sitting on piles of money while their students and alumni rack up enormous amounts of debt - the same alumni they call monthly to donate to their f'n endowments! The top twenty public universities' endowments almost add up to $90 billion. 

Private Universities are even worse. BUT these are PUBLIC universities. Which begs the question: Why are public Universities syphoning money away from the public? Strangely the beneficiaries of this money are universities where money is hoarded and banks. 

I understand that bigger endowments mean that it yields a higher amount of interest, and from what I quickly googled,  these endowments have a annual withdrawal rate of 4-5%. BUT this still seems too little. And after further research (very quick Googling), in many instances Universities won't precisely answer how much of that withdrawal rate goes to tuition relief. 

Great, now I worked myself up. 

Have experience with this at other endowments/foundations. About 70% of the IU endowment is restricted. So original gift is preserved and use of earnings on that is restricted by the donors. May be restricted for scholarships or anything else the donors designate. So that leaves earnings on about $650M that IU can spend for any purpose. At 4-5% a year that’s about $26-32 M toward a 3.7B annual budget. Endowments are governed by laws that require prudent spending to preserve the inflation adjusted value of the endowed gifts. That generally limits payouts to 4-5%

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2 hours ago, 13th&Jackson said:

Have experience with this at other endowments/foundations. About 70% of the IU endowment is restricted. So original gift is preserved and use of earnings on that is restricted by the donors. May be restricted for scholarships or anything else the donors designate. So that leaves earnings on about $650M that IU can spend for any purpose. At 4-5% a year that’s about $26-32 M toward a 3.7B annual budget. Endowments are governed by laws that require prudent spending to preserve the inflation adjusted value of the endowed gifts. That generally limits payouts to 4-5%

Wow. Look at you for all this knowledge.  Proving once again that HSN members are super knowledgeable on many levels.  Thanks for sharing !

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2 hours ago, 13th&Jackson said:

Have experience with this at other endowments/foundations. About 70% of the IU endowment is restricted. So original gift is preserved and use of earnings on that is restricted by the donors. May be restricted for scholarships or anything else the donors designate. So that leaves earnings on about $650M that IU can spend for any purpose. At 4-5% a year that’s about $26-32 M toward a 3.7B annual budget. Endowments are governed by laws that require prudent spending to preserve the inflation adjusted value of the endowed gifts. That generally limits payouts to 4-5%

Interesting.  So is the principle on the 30% untouchable or when can that be accessed?

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3 hours ago, 13th&Jackson said:

Have experience with this at other endowments/foundations. About 70% of the IU endowment is restricted. So original gift is preserved and use of earnings on that is restricted by the donors. May be restricted for scholarships or anything else the donors designate. So that leaves earnings on about $650M that IU can spend for any purpose. At 4-5% a year that’s about $26-32 M toward a 3.7B annual budget. Endowments are governed by laws that require prudent spending to preserve the inflation adjusted value of the endowed gifts. That generally limits payouts to 4-5%

Thanks for your perspective and knowledge. If I ever become a billionaire and donate, my restriction will be spent to keep tuition lower. Haha  

While I understand, many of the restrictions are in place because they want to pay their donations out for many years to come; it’s still messed up. And why IUs budget is $3.2 Billion is beyond me. The city of Indianapolis’ budget is $1.2 Billion. What am I missing?

I think Mark Cuban is correct when he predicts our next bubble bursting will be higher education. I think a hard reset is needed. At some point people are going to refuse to pay these high cost and either go to trade school or learn their crap from YouTube. Haha. 

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10 hours ago, The Daily Hoosier said:

Interesting.  So is the principle on the 30% untouchable or when can that be accessed?

Don’t know details at IUF, but typically much of the principal would be off limits, at least temporarily. I’m sure some could be appropriated by IU depending on governance agreement with IUF. 

However, endowments are governed by principle of inter generational equity, which means not favoring current beneficiaries to the detriment of future. Once funds are spent they can’t generate future earnings. Boards and administrations always want to spend today. Without that governance, there wouldn’t be endowments 

All that said, the B1G money should stay with the athletic department 

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10 hours ago, tdhoosier said:

Thanks for your perspective and knowledge. If I ever become a billionaire and donate, my restriction will be spent to keep tuition lower. Haha  

While I understand, many of the restrictions are in place because they want to pay their donations out for many years to come; it’s still messed up. And why IUs budget is $3.2 Billion is beyond me. The city of Indianapolis’ budget is $1.2 Billion. What am I missing?

I think Mark Cuban is correct when he predicts our next bubble bursting will be higher education. I think a hard reset is needed. At some point people are going to refuse to pay these high cost and either go to trade school or learn their crap from YouTube. Haha. 

Cuban is correct, the higher ed business model is broken. Many small private colleges and marginal publics will be gone in 10 years 

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15 hours ago, 13th&Jackson said:

Have experience with this at other endowments/foundations. About 70% of the IU endowment is restricted. So original gift is preserved and use of earnings on that is restricted by the donors. May be restricted for scholarships or anything else the donors designate. So that leaves earnings on about $650M that IU can spend for any purpose. At 4-5% a year that’s about $26-32 M toward a 3.7B annual budget. Endowments are governed by laws that require prudent spending to preserve the inflation adjusted value of the endowed gifts. That generally limits payouts to 4-5%

Thanks. In 3-4 sentences you've explained perfectly what I've failed to understand for decades. Much appreciated the limits, numbers,etc.....

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