Missouri athletic donations have declined since football boycott

The Missouri Athletics Department saw a major decline in donations during in 2015, which can partly be attributed to the football boycott that was the catalyst to president Tim Wolfe resigning.

The Missouri Athletics Department saw a major decline in donations in 2015, which can partly be attributed to the football boycott that was the catalyst to president Tim Wolfe resigning, according to the Columbia Daily Tribune.

In the month of December, the athletic department received $191,000 in donations. That is a 68.7% decline from what the school received in December 2014.

According to Missouri athletic director Mack Rhoades, that decline has a lot to do with poor performance of the football team, which finished 5–7.

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However, the team’s support for a protest organized by Concerned Student 1950 in the form of a boycott against playing football also played a role. The boycott, which was led by black players and supported by teammates and coaches, was used to address issues of discrimination at the largest school in the University of Missouri system.

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“There’s a direct correlation between the success of your teams and the amount of money that you have capacity to raise,” Rhoades said. “Also, in addition to that, the football team did not have a terrific season, did not go to a bowl game. And you factor that in with what happened on campus, people are upset with the university and the athletics department. The combination of the two is why I feel that donations are down, particularly in the month of December.”

Donations were also down at the school for academic programs. In total, monetary support fell by around $6 million in December 2015.

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