Incorrect.
The average TV ad costs $115,000 for a 30-second commercial on a national network.
Akron's athletics budget is $34.9 million. Which is 303.478 30-second commercials, aka 151.7 minutes of National TV time.
Their football team had three games on national TV (9 hours), their men's basketball team five (10 hours). Buying 19 hours worth of ads would cost about $262 million.
Chances are universities would not be running national commercials. They would look at their student base see where they have large populations and build a marketing plan from there.
I went to Missouri State University. The largest demographic of students were from St. Louis, then Kansas City, then Springfield (where the school is). MSU would accomplish little to nothing by advertising in California, or New York, or Florida, etc.
The Women's basketball team made it to the Sweet 16 this year and had multiple games on national TV. How many high school students from the east or west coasts saw those games and thought how great it would be to go to MSU? I would bet the number is pretty close to 0. How many high school students within a few hours of the school saw those games and it increased their interest in MSU? I would bet more than 0.
The mens soccer team was ranked top 10 for most of the season and had multiple games on national TV. The same is true here as with the above.
The national marketing only benefits maybe 5% of all D1 schools. Those are the teams that are always on national TV and do well in many sports every year. Students see those big name schools and want the "coolness" of being at a school with good athletic programs. The vast majority of students do not care how good the sports teams are, they are far more worried about costs and other much more pertinent concerns.
When i was looking at college I requested info at all those big schools that i saw on TV all the time and came to the conclusion it made little to no sense for me to attend one of those schools. I was more concerned with costs, distance from home, accreditation, etc.
Akron, like MSU, would be much better served buying local targeted ads on social media and shows they know potential students are watching. That could easily be accomplished with the $34.9MM figure you cited. Although it would be better to look at the net income/loss than the total budget.
I am all for universities having athletic departments but those departments need to be able to stand on their own and not take funds away from the educational purpose of universities.
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