Financial state of affairs for NCAA sports: a case for intangible strategic assets?

Traditionally, the practitioner literature gives significant account of how well NCAA‐member organisations carries out its mission, but rarely is fiscal responsibility discussed as one of them. Although professional sport leagues are for‐profit organisations and have traditionally relied on innovations to attract and hold its fan base and create new streams of potential revenue, it seems that the NCAA has lost its control on spiraling costs and has few solutions to its relatively flat sources of revenue. As outlined by recent financial reports, especially by Fulks (2012), all NCAA subdivisions experienced relatively few revenue sources. The three that accounted for 50% or more of the total generated revenues were ticket sales, alumni and booster contributions, and NCAA and conference distributions. The lack of fiscal sustainability in a world where few institutions are getting the most of available NCAA‐related athletic activities profits from their sport‐related activities, coupled with relatively flat revenue growth and increasing expenses, a real signal to management of educational institutions that better fiscal management must be put into place. Most financial reporting makes the entire concept of a self‐supporting NCAA athletic organisation unsustainable from a financial standpoint. However, these financial reports do not include the contributions from intangible assets.