Too much money continues to be spent on college athletics by public universities, according to a Knight Commission report released Thursday that calls for greater transparency and better balance between sports and academics.

The commission spent he past 18 months working on the report, "Restoring the Balance" which claims the combination of athletic spending and a lack of oversight of student-athletes' classroom activities "threaten the very integrity of higher education."

The Knight Commission, a reform-minded group of college presidents and dignitaries that has no regulatory power, outlined a series of recommendations which ranged from reduction of 8 to 10 football scholarships at Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) institutions to requiring NCAA postseason participants to maintain an Academic Progress Report score of at least 925.

According to the report, athletic spending rose 38 percent since 2005 while spending dedicated to academics over the same period of time was increased only by 20 percent.

The report concluded the 10 universities that spent the most on athletics will, on average, pump $250 million per year into sports by 2020. The spending habits, the group believes, cannot be sustained in the long run and will only further damage higher education as a whole.

The report was released after weeks of conference realignment and talks of bigger TV dollars for schools like Texas, which may be in line for a super-sized TV deal by staying put in the Big 12 rather than move to a conference like the Pac 10.

Only seven FBS schools, including Michigan, annually generated enough revenue to cover expenses dedicated to athletics. The rest dipped into general fund dollars that could be spent on academic endeavors.

In fiscal year 2011, Michigan projects revenues of $105 million and operating expenses of $100.3 million, according to numbers released by the university Thursday.

Part of the Knight Commission's report focused on universities being more transparent with what they spend on athletics. According to commission members, which include Michigan Regent Andrea Fischer Newman, those numbers should be readily available to interested parties, including taxpayers. 

"Academic reform in intercollegiate athletics began in earnest when graduation rates were first shared publicly," said Knight Commission co-chairman William E. "Brit" Kirwan said in a conference call with reporters Thursday. "We believe the same will be true for financial reform when there is far greater transparency on athletic expenditures."

In addition, the Knight Commission urged the NCAA to heighten its academic standards for postseason championship participation. In its initial report in 1991, the commission suggested a required graduation rate of at least 50 percent for schools to qualify for NCAA tournaments.

Members on Thursday, however, said the requirements need to be stricter, putting a greater emphasis on academics rather than strictly on athletic success. The report called for the NCAA to create a revenue distribution fund called the Academic-Athletics Balance Fund.

Funds would be drawn from the current allocations provided for success in the NCAA men's basketball tournament, and distributed to schools that meet guidelines that include a 50 percent graduation rate and balanced spending on academic and athletics.

Turner said in April, the NCAA allocated $167 million to conferences based on tournament appearances and success. Under the Knight Commission's plan, half of that amount - $83.5 million - would be designated to the academic-athletic balance fund.

In football, the commission suggests that 20 percent of the Bowl Championship Series revenue be re-allocated to the balance fund.

"This revenue distribution fund is vitally important to preserve the integrity of college sports," Bowling Green President Carol Cartwright said Thursday. "The commission believes that we can no longer based shared revenues so heavily on winning, but instead, on maintaining the right balance between athletics and academics.

"We also must treat student-athletes as students first and foremost and not as professionals. ...This must guide our approach."

Cartwright said Thursday that several high-profile men's basketball and football programs have evolved into "elaborate operations that rival professional sports teams as it relates to the number of support personnel and salaries being paid to coaches.

In order to keep collegiate athletes to blurring the lines toward professional sports, Cartwright said seasons needed to be shortened while some non-revenue sports should be eliminated.

As spending increases, so has the time demands on student-athletes who Cartwright believe are being overly-stressed. College athletics, she said, need to be put back into proper perspective leading to the commission's recommendations that the size of coaching staffs be limited while cost-cutting by eliminating 8 to 10 football scholarships.

Interim NCAA President Jim Isch said several aspects of the report needed either clarification. For instance, Isch did not go along with the recommendation that schools who do not register a APR score of 925 should automatically be barred from post-season competition.

While he believes the current system is fair, he said the NCAA is not "resting on its laurels" when it comes to academic achievement.

Jeff Arnold covers sports for AnnArbor.com and can be reached at (734) 623-2554 or by email at jeffarnold@annarbor.com. Follow him on Twitter @jeffreyparnold.