IU AD Scott Dolson Says He Feels Media Rights Money 'Already Kind of Spent'

Written by Sammy Jacobs (@Hoosier_Huddle)

Indiana University Athletic Director Scott Dolson addressed the media during Indiana’s weekly football press conference. His message was one of hope and progress as he announced that Memorial Stadium has received new LED lights, that IU has partnered with Molson-Coors and Upland Brewing Company as their beer partners for in-stadium service and said that football season ticket renewals were at 98-percent of last year. However, Dolson failed to address the elephant in the room. Upgrading and updating Indiana’s football facilities.

When asked about if there is a main focus when it comes to facilities or budget expansion with the announcement of a new media rights deal that begins in July of 2023, Dolson was non-committal.

“it is backloaded, and a lot of those details are still to come. But the reality is that the way things are changing and the way that our budget is just -- like many of your budgets are increasing, I feel like we've already kind of spent it in a way.” Dolson explained.

While the details of the deal have yet to be announced, it is a 7-year deal worth $7 billion. IU’s budget is going to increase and the school needs to be more forward thinking.

Dolson said he feels like they have already “kind of spent it in a way”. On what?

“We announced this summer the Alston Award, which is an academic award that we'll award to any student-athlete who qualifies for it this year, and that's about a $3 million hit to our budget.” Dolson said.

Dolson went on to say “as this media rights, the details come out and as that grows over time, I feel like that will allow us to really keep pace and to be able to do things we need to do to support our student-athletes, but I really don't look at it as a real windfall.”

As programs across the country, including rival Purdue, announce football facility upgrades, IU has not publicly announced anything expect about necessities like new lights and the Alston Award.

Is there hope that IU has something up their sleeve? Maybe, as Dolson said “I think what a lot of people started thinking is that it's going to be a huge uptick at one time, and again, it's a steady stream over time, mainly backloaded, and again, a lot of that is already taken into consideration in what we're planning for the future to support our student-athletes.”

Dolson and IU cannot take forever to make up their minds as to where the media rights money will go, but it is clear that football is driving other athletic departments who have either caught or passed IU.