I realize it is the offseason and sportswriters are looking for anything to write about, but this $16 million loan has just about played its course. Yet, we get another article from Tim Griffin today expressing angst about the financial situation of the athletic department. The article is so ripe with errors and half truths it hardly deserves being mentioned.

First off Tim, the $16 million loan from the university is NOT an interest bearing loan. The AD is going to pay $1.6 million per year for ten years to pay it off. In laymens terms we either need to find a $1.6 million increase in revenue or cut $1.6 million from the budget to find that money.

This is not very hard to do in a $70 million budget. If the A&M football team qualifies for a bowl game the increased revenue from the game will cover that. If two Big 12 schools qualify for BCS bowl games the increased revenue share from the conference will likely cover it. If A&M were to advance to the Sweet 16 in basketball the increased revenue share from the tv contract with the NCAA would likely cover it. It is really not that hard to find $1.6 million.

The school is not trying to whittle down the $16 million loan by $4.5 million in the first year. If you had read ANY of the articles on the subject, you would know that the $4.5 million figure came from a request by the univesity to lower the athletic BUDGET. It had nothing to do with the loan. I know many in the media are trying to connect the two, but the $4.5 million reduction in spending was due to the fact that everyone at A&M had been requested to tighten their budgets so the AD was informed to tighten their's in the name of fairness.

The biggest problem I have with all these articles is that the vast MAJORITY of athletic departments across the nation operate every year in the red. Most athletic departments lose money every year. A&M and tu are two of the 5-6 athletic departments who finish with a profit every year. It may surprise you to learn that even when Michigan was going to the final four with the Fab Five and to the Rose Bowl in football, the athletic department was in the red. This whole myth that athletic departments are making millions of dollars off the poor student athletes backs is simply that, a myth. The athletic departments take in millions of dollars in revenue, but spend millions of dollars on scholarships, coaches salaries, travel, recruiting, promotion, and various other areas. If A&M has to join the 95 percent of all the athletic departments in the country that lose money on an annual basis for a year or two, so be it. Sometimes large corporations lose money. You reassess and reorganize, and come back leaner and stronger. I expect A& to be back in the black next year, but if they are not it is not like a year or two in the red is going to kill us.