Friday, May 12, 2006

The Money Game

When it comes to balancing an athletic budget, it pays to have a winning team. Football is the economic engine of college athletics, but cashing in often means spending more than the losers. "You can almost correlate programs that have the largest budgets and overall rankings in the Big 12 Conference," Texas A&M athletic director Bill Byrne said, "and the reason you can correlate that is that if you have money to spend, you're going to get out and attract better coaches, support staff, better travel, more opportunities for recruiting. It's the same idea as a rising tide raises all ships. If you have resources, the tide raises all your programs." The Bryan-College Station Eagle breaks down the high-stakes game of college athletes and examines where Texas A&M stands in the battle against its Big 12 rivals. And a pricey ticket is not the only thing that upsets Aggie fans.

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