In addition to the impacts of athletes, coaches and school communities, the financial loss that colleges around the county, including Northwestern, will face is one of the biggest concerns following the Big Ten’s cancelation of the football season.
Northwestern is set to experience a multimillion dollar loss the fiscal year of 2020 due to football, but even more so, these losses from football come without reference to all other university-related expected financial losses in 2020 due to COVID-19.
Still, in the midst of the country’s worst recession since 2008, there is a certain sense of reality and privilege required when thinking about the financial implications of a football season for a private university whose endowment fund hovers above $10 billion.