Well, the two colleges I'm familiar with, Michigan and Michigan State, are both in the black according to your article, with Michigan netting $170 million and Michigan State netting $140 million.
I have another article that talks about the “funny accounting” done by the big-time schools on their athletic budgets. It makes a case that its actually impossible to tell for sure if they make or lose money. I don’t know yet what to think of the article. It seems like profit\loss etc. i.e., finances should be straight forward. You only do “funny things” financially if you want to obscure something. It also makes the case that there’s little to no accountability in spending in these programs. That I readily believe since I’ve seen it in the academic institution part of college\university administrations. Why should the athletic department be different?