The Athletic department will “borrow” the money from the University. The first $12 million payment is set aside in some sort of escrow. Those profits fund all the other sports. The athletic department as a whole operates at a profit, but they don’t have that kind of money laying around.
That said, if Judge Kane in Harrisburg (first level of Federal Judges) gives the state standing and issues an injunction, then all the sanctions are basically going away.
At least until the ncaa would go to court. The state didn’t ask for an immediate injunction, so it’s unknown if one were to be requested, whether it would be before discovery or after.
Given that the penalties are very time sensitive, the state should have demanded an immediate injunction (imo).
After paying for those other athletic programs, the PSU athletic department had a surplus of $31.6 million in 2010-2011, exceeding the previous year's surplus by more than $5 million. Who knows how much the football program/athletic department made in 2011-2012, or 2012-2013; Penn State hasn't disclosed that yet and the records aren't subject to Pennsylvania's open records act.
If we're going to punish the football program, the $60 million represents approximately one year's profit of the football program, or two years' profit of the entire Athletic Department.
That's peanuts.