Miami Hurricanes economic impact of coronavirus shutdown

The economic cost of cancelation of college sports will be felt throughout Division I. The amount of money that the Miami Hurricanes athletic department will lose is going to be prohibitive.

The cancelation of the NCAA Tournament is going to bring the total amount of money dispersed to NCAA Division I schools from about $600 million to $225 million as announced by the NCAA on Thursday. Although the Miami Hurricanes are a Power Five school the impact felt in Coral Gables is greater than most schools in the ACC.

The Miami Hurricanes and Duke are the only private schools in the ACC Coastal Division. Boston College, Notre Dame, Syracuse and Wake Forest are private schools that are members of the ACC Atlantic Divison (Notre Dame for Baseball and Syracuse for football). The financial reserves at each of those schools will vary.

In a series of interviews and letters sent out to fans this week, Hurricanes athletic director Blake James discussed the impact the coronavirus has had on the entire athletic department and specifically discussed how it would impact Miami. Several factors are in play including extra scholarships for the 2020-21 school year.

After canceling all championships taking place in March and the spring sports, the NCAA announced that 2020 seniors would be provided the opportunity to return in the spring of 2021 to compensate for the loss of what would have been their final season this spring. The money for those scholarships will be complicated.

"“Obviously the scholarships are paid for by the institution. Whatever the NCAA decides, we will be operating at that level. And those are costs that we will incur as a program.’’"

James stated the above in an interview with the Miami Herald earlier this week. Incurring those costs for the Miami Hurricanes athletic department is a much bigger hit than at schools like Clemson, Florida or Florida State. In addition to the interview with the Herald, James sent out two letters to fans.