Take UNM athletics “study” with a huge grain of salt

02.14.2025

UNM’s athletics department recently announced that it had a study which found that UNM athletics has a $240 million annual economic impact.  Among other impacts, “UNM athletics generates nearly $75.2 million worth of yearly economic activity across Albuquerque, per a study contracted by the department. Over $150 million in local direct and indirect revenue over the last three years was traced to Lobo athletic events, he added, representing nearly a fourth of the total economic impact provided by the department in that span.”

We looked at any number of UNM and UNM athletics websites for the report and were unable to find it. In fact, we have done a IPRA request for the report. So, we relied on the Albuquerque Journal report and the report authors Collegiate Consulting.

While we are indeed sports fans here and we have no particular beef with UNM or NMSU athletics and consider them a great amenity for the locals. We oppose plans to allocate $5 million to UNM/NMSU athletic departments, however. We don’t give this report much legitimacy as an economics document for the following reasons (these are by no means limited to THIS particular report):

  1.  It was undertaken by consultants, not economists. Consultants are paid by the customer and will generally give the customer what they want in order to drum up more business. Academics are by no means perfect, but they have a better track record.
  2. Advertising value of TV appearances is notoriously subjective as are terms like “direct and indirect revenue.”
  3. And of course, where are these $$ coming from? What percentage of Lobo fans are coming from out of state for games? Economic development implies that we are not simply “recycling” existing tax dollars.
  4. According to the St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank the Albuquerque Metro area GDP is nearly $60 billion annually. Limited and poor as our economy may be UNM athletics doesn’t really move the needle especially since so much of its inputs are generated through taxes paid by New Mexicans and of course oil and gas.

One interesting note in the coverage of this report is that UNM’s annual athletic budget ($47,763,222) is currently second-to-last in the Mountain West; only San Jose State’s budget ($44,546,781) is lower while San Diego State ($103,930,691) boasts the highest in the league. Whatever the RIGHT number is, there is no doubt that New Mexico’s lack of a strong, diversified economy negatively impacts this situation.