PEORIA, IL – Bradley University devoted just 37.55 percent of its athletic spending for the 2013-2014 season on women’s sports despite having 31 more female athletes than men, according a yearly institution report from the U.S. Department of Education.
The report showed that Bradley University spent $4,175,199 on women’s sports in comparison to $6,942,895 on men’s sports, totaling $11,118,094 in expenses for this past season.
Panoramic shot of the Renaissance Coliseum
“I’m sure there are a lot of different things that factor into why this is true, many of which I am unaware of,” said senior volleyball player Madison Kamp. “But I believe the number one reason is that men’s basketball generates most of the money that comes into Bradley Athletics, so it’s only fair that a chunk of it goes to them”
Bradley University indeed spends by far the most on their men’s basketball team, investing $33,786 on operating expenses in each of the team’s 15 participants, totaling $506,788 for the entire team. The women’s team also has 15 participants, with Bradley spending less than half, $13,646, on the women’s basketball players operating expenses in comparison to the men’s, totaling just $204,685.
It is worth noting that the men’s basketball team plays their homes games off campus at the Peoria Civic Center, while the women’s basketball team plays on campus at the Renaissance Coliseum.
Still, the report also showed that Bradley utilized only 37.75 percent of its recruiting expenses on women’s sports in comparison to 62.25 percent on the men’s, again despite the latter having 31 less athletic participants.
“Again, there could be many reasons as to why this is true, but maybe it’s the nature of the sports and recruitment themselves and how they differ,” Kamp said. “It could be that the recruitment of women athletes is more accessible than men athletes, therefore the recruitment of men require a larger budget.”
The report doesn’t seem to have ruffled many feathers on the women’s side, though.
“There are multiple reasons for the outcome you see,” said Bradley volleyball Assistant Coach Lindsay Allman. “However, I do believe that the financial decisions are made in the absolute best interest for each program.
The spending on both genders may level out a little bit for the 2014-2015 season as Bradley cut its Men’s Tennis team following last season.
To view the complete data report from the U.S. Department of Education, visit http://ope.ed.gov/athletics/index.aspx and follow the institution data link to Bradley University.
For more information on Bradley University athletics, visit http://www.bradleybraves.com.