Arkansas State University budgeted $821,000 for athletics last year but spent $225,000 more than that. Tulane University allocated $2.6 million to its athletics program and overran that by $200,000. The University of Minnesota, with a $3.9 million athletics budget, is now saddled with a cumulative deficit of $450,000 and a possibility of having to use tuition income to pay the sporting bills. On many other campuses too, university presidents who once remained at a distance from athletics issues are struggling to contain repeated financial losses from sports.
"On the one hand, you recognize the...