Alexander McMullen, Koby Cohen, Eli Baker, Brandon Lee, Jonta Robertson
The monetization of college athletics and its immense revenue generation has led to universities devoting hundreds of millions of dollars to preserving varsity athletics at their institutions. This development has seen rapid change since the beginning of the twenty-first century, and more money than ever has been pushed into sports since the creation of new name, image, and likeness policies. While the growth of intercollegiate athletics continues to take shape, looking into the financial infrastructure of universities, conferences, and the NCAA can illuminate key social and cultural trends in the sports industry.
Intercollegiate athletics relies on the devoted commitment of alumni and trusted board members who demonstrate their loyalty to their universities on a perennial basis. This loyalty is provided through alumni funds that help subsidize large portions of the athletic fund used by student-athletes and Duke Athletics. Schools across the country at any program have their own variation of an athletic fund, and at Duke this is known as the Iron Duke Fund. When an alumni or donor gives to the Iron Dukes Annual Fund, they contribute financial resources to help Duke Athletics fulfill areas or pressing needs (Iron Duke Annual Fund 2022). One of the largest contributions of this fund is the allocation of donated money to the scholarship fund used for student-athletes. There is no limit to the Iron Duke Fund that one individual cannot donate, but the minimum donation must start at $100. While providing opportunities to student-athletes through scholarship funds is the chief principle of the fund, there are intrinsic benefits that are scheduled to Iron Duke supporters at given tier levels. These incentives include, but are not limited to, Iron Duke specific events all the way to sporting event game day parking passes (Iron Duke Annual Fund 2022). The continued annual support to these types of funds is the backbone of the on-going success of Duke’s athletic programs and are critical at all institutions operating in the intercollegiate space.