Date of Completion

Spring 5-2-2014

Thesis Advisor(s)

James Sinclair

Honors Major

Accounting

Abstract

Many collegiate athletic departments have discontinued specific sports for various reasons. Oftentimes a department claims a need to ‘comply with Title IX regulation’, a federal legislation prohibiting discrimination on the basis of gender, as the primary reason for discontinuing an athletic program. In other cases, schools have cited a need to reduce athletic department spending. Regardless of the reason, discontinued programs generate a windfall of previously allocated funds to athletic departments. In the current study, I examine how expenses get reallocated within an athletic department following the discontinuation of an athletic team. In particular, I investigate whether funds are reallocated to the remaining sports or simply saved for other purposes. Furthermore, if the funds are reallocated, I investigate the manner in which these saved expenses get distributed to the remaining sports.

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