Physical education and athletic facilities : analysis of usage and financial problems

Graduation date: 1987In the field of physical education and athletics the ever-rising\ud operating costs of quality programs had forced all small colleges to\ud seek new sources of funds. The financial problems in supporting\ud physical education and athletics were related to the overall\ud financial problems of these institutions.\ud With the need for additional funds to support physical education\ud and athletic programs, several concepts needed to be evaluated.\ud These included identification and qualification of the types of\ud programs offered, users involved, program effectiveness, marketing\ud concepts, and organization and management theories.\ud One-way analysis of variance was used to test the Null\ud hypothesis that no significant difference existed by region in the\ud acceptance of content, level of importance, in the types of users,\ud concepts of usage, or success of programs.\ud Over 90 percent of small colleges used their physical education\ud and athletic facilities in some educational or fund-raising capacity.\ud Three-fourths of the institutions used their facilities to less than\ud 50 percent capacity. User groups included age-group sports camps,\ud group rentals, and recreational and fitness programs. These schools\ud with the most effective revenue production were involved in ownership\ud and management of private-enterprise facilities, sports camps\ud organized and managed by the institutions, and the housing of\ud professional sports groups. Rental of facilities to individuals,\ud groups, or agencies to organize and administer independently was the\ud easiest and safest method of fund production, but least effective in\ud terms of actual generated revenue.\ud Administrators were supportive of new concepts for income\ud development, but provided limited assistance in terms of program\ud management, administrative training, or support services to operate\ud these programs. Faculty and staff members felt pressure when asked\ud to compete with free enterprise, and they felt other educational\ud departments were not being forced to participate.\ud Further research into the areas of facility use and design,\ud fund-raising concepts, budgetary control, faculty training, and the\ud views of administrators toward physical education and athletic\ud departments were highly recommended. New approaches needed to be\ud sought that would help administrators formulate innovative and more\ud productive plans for future uses of facilities