UA teams deal with struggling economy together

The economy can affect all types of businesses, both big and small.

The University of Arizona is no different.

One interesting piece of information came out in the past week as there was some interesting insight into UA athletics.

A piece in the Arizona Daily Star talked about how athletic programs are coping with saving and spending money such as the women's volleyball team and how they are trying to keep their expenditures down when going on trips during the season.

With the increased cost of airline tickets due to fuel prices and the extra charge for first and second checked bags, travel costs seem to be going beyond what anyone could have imagined just 10 years ago. Add on the cost of hotel rooms and meals and the costs go even higher.

An interesting note in the story was that money can be given to other athletic teams if the previous one does not use it. That brings up a very interesting point.

Back in 2006 a CNN article talked about how the UA men's basketball team was the most profitable team in the NCAA with revenue of $16 million and a profit of $12.5 million after expenses. The second most profitable team was the University of North Carolina who after expenses had a profit of $10.2 million.

So with the continued success (hopefully especially since the last few seasons) of the basketball team the university should be able to have all the athletic teams taken care of. But what about football? With a stadium capacity of over 56,000 the program could be a real help if it develops into a consistent winner.

In 2006 this article showed that the Arizona football team was 34th in the nation in attendance with 390,589 and with seven games at home it averaged out to 55,798.

This season the UA has seven home games with major Pac-10 teams such as California, Southern California, and rival Arizona State visiting Tucson.

So far after two games against Idaho and Toledo, the UA has had crowds of 47,511 and 50,939 respectively coming out to a total of 98,450.

With five more home games left and a current record of 3-1, the team has a chance of making this year be very successful in terms of profit. The highest average attendance was in 1994, with an average of 56,562 and in the last three years the UA has averaged 53,613, 55,798, and 52,160.