Athletics department should pay exit fee

Syracuse University will officially join the Atlantic Coast Conference on July 1, a move that will benefit the entire university. With a $7.5 million exit fee, though, the Syracuse Athletic Department should be responsible for this payment.

There is contention about who should pay the fee. The Board of Trustees unanimously decided that the university overall should cover the cost, but the University Senate’s Budget and Fiscal Affairs Committee recommends the athletic department pay the remaining balance of the exit fee on its own.

The Senate was correct in creating a resolution that supported the budget committee’s recommendation that the athletic department should cover the cost. Though this resolution is non-binding, it rightly calls on the Board of Trustees to supply more sufficient reasoning as to why it originally made the decision to have the university pay.

Until that logic is produced and publicly released, the athletic department should assume the responsibility of the exit fee.

The argument that the university will widely benefit from the conference move is valid, as the ACC is more highly regarded as a conference academically, and will expand SU’s exposure nationally. But the move was mainly made to advance the athletic department’s recruiting abilities, allow SU to obtain more lucrative television contracts and because of the ACC’s financial stability.

Therefore, the concept that the move will have a positive effect on each entity of SU is not the driving force between whether the university or athletic department should pay the fee. Rather, who covers the cost should be based on who benefits most and on why SU became an ACC institution.

The Senate’s budget committee does not believe the university is financially stable enough to forgo the exit fee, and this should not be taken lightly. Furthermore, the cost of the fee, to be paid during the course of several years, will be earned back by the athletic department in SU’s first year as an ACC school.

It is undisputable that the entirety of SU will benefit from moving to a more advanced conference, both by academic and athletic standards. But the reason for the move is ultimately due to athletics. Because of this aspect and the large benefits SU athletics is soon to experience, this department should be responsible for the fee.