The town of Elon’s Downtown Development Director Jill Weston said one of the town’s missions is to produce more involvement with the students and Elon University — and is starting with Elon Athletics.
As a town of under 12,000 residents, Weston knows there will be challenges as more people and traffic come into Elon as the school grows, but the town’s leadership is receptive to balancing what the town’s needs are for the future. Sport management professor Alex Traugutt, who researches college athletic finances, said the cross-collaboration between athletics and the town hasn't been ingrained in Elon yet.
“As someone who lives in the community, there’s often times a disconnect between what’s going on in the area that surrounds Elon,” Traugutt said. “If you grow too fast, you don’t have the resources to support students. They have a bad time and leave. The school gets the kind of reputation that brings people in, but can’t support them.”
Elon University Athletics’ $33.6 million total expense budget is close to three times the amount of the town of Elon’s $11 million budget.
According to Traugutt, the biggest concerns across the sports landscape are how college towns staff businesses on big game days and how to increase opportunities for athletes. Tragutt said he believes that Elon Athletics needs as large of a budget as it has now to bring student-athletes to compete for Elon.
While Elon Athletics was not available to comment, they provided Elon News Network with a 2020 economic impact report by the university, which said athletics had drawn in 118,932 fans for events and games on campus from June 1, 2019 to May 30, 2020.
Weston said the town’s businesses are made aware of days when the student or town activity could increase significantly, so they can be ready for the rush of customers.
“All the businesses prepare for it,” Weston said. “They know the calendars, what’s coming, staff up, and get ready for it. We see a huge influx when we especially have certain teams come in.”
Downtown Elon restaurant MaGerk’s Pub & Grill teamed up with Elon Athletics for “Elon Basketball Live,” where coaches come and talk to customers about the games and possible future perspectives on basketball programs, which Traugutt said is not a bad marketing technique. Downtown businesses Magerks and The Rosemary at Elon did not respond to Elon News Network’s requests for comment.
Before “Elon Basketball Live” was an idea, The Oak House owner Phil Smith would host coaches, athletes, and fans after home games when the basketball stadium was still located in Alumni Gym. There was no direct attachment or collaboration with Athletics for these events.
He said that The Oak House was a good place for celebration when they won, but also a good place for coaches, specifically former Elon men’s basketball coach Matt Matheny, to come entertain people even after a loss. The Oak House would sell pizza by the slice and provide alcohol for basketball, which included coaches, student-athletes, and their significant others “munching and drinking for free.” The move to Schar Stadium from Alumni Gym complicated things for the business.
“It was fun, but it cost,” Smith said. “We provided for the coaches. We looked after them. It wasn’t a money-maker. Since the move to Schar, there’s parking and it’s a little longer walk, so we don’t get as much pre- or post-game as we used to.”
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, Smith said those events stopped, citing that The Oak House isn’t the best place to host fans because of physical space limitations as the business is not a “full restaurant” where people can eat, drink, and listen to the coaches.
Smith personally connects with Elon Basketball players who are already The Oak House customers, like former guard Max McKinnon and forward Brayden Crump, to endorse the business on social media. According to Smith, Elon Athletics reviews the agreements and agrees to them if they meet NIL specifications, which allows student-athletes to profit off of outside endorsements, something the NCAA did not allow before.
The town’s total revenue for the 2024-25 financial year was $14.6 million and expenses were almost $9.7 million. The town’s budget receives $160,754 from the university and its total yearly budget was just over $11 million for the 2024-25 fiscal year.
The town of Elon’s financial statement from June 2024 said that Elon University and Twin Lakes Community, a retirement community, take up 40% of the town's physical area. Since both of the entities are nonprofit entities, they generate little for property tax revenue and “limit economic progress,” but still drives the daytime populations of the town.
According to tax preparation company Ownwell, the median property tax rate for Elon is 0.43%, while Mebane’s rate is 0.80%. Rates are different in Burlington depending on if the zipcode of the property is located in Alamance or Guilford county. Areas in Alamance County are the same as Elon’s rate at 0.43%, but the median rate jumps to 1.26% in Guilford county.
However, Weston said there are no budgetary changes made to account for collaborations with athletics as they interact as two different entities. The two groups only started collaborating a year ago, with the first event being the social district block party, a town celebration held around the perimeter of downtown Elon.
“We function on a fairly small budget because our tax revenues aren’t as large as Burlington or Mebane," Weston said. “I don’t think we’re affected in one way or the other from what the athletic budget is versus our budget, but them having a large budget and being able to do events are overall good for the town.”
According to Equity in Athletics Data Analysis’ 2022-23 report for Elon University, Elon Athletics declared $33.6 million for total revenue and expenditure, which was verified by an Elon Athletics communications staff member. He said that in general, expenditures and revenue balance out on EADA reports for schools with Division I football teams.
The athletics budget, which is not stated by the EADA or Elon Athletics, allocates 40% of the budget for scholarships and 60% for operating costs, which include salaries, travel, recruiting and more. The operating revenue states Elon University invests approximately 86% in athletics, while only 14% of revenue is generated by athletics.
“We’re not a big sports world over here. We don’t see the same kind of attendance drivers for the other kinds of sports on campus,” Traugutt said. “While we have a large athletics budget, if we shrunk that in any way, it would be even more difficult for us to attract student-athletes to campus.”
Smith has been involved with the town of Elon for over 16 years, holding multiple roles at the university and owning The Oak House for just over 10 years. In 2019, Smith and business partner Ryan Vet opened The Oak House Durham, which Vet eventually bought out. Even as a Durham-native, Smith said that as the “flagship” of the two businesses it was easier for him to stay in the original location than to go between the two. He said that he has seen the growth and development of the town increase over the last decade.
“Everything’s changed, right? If you’re an alum from 2010 and you come to campus, you don’t recognize it,” Smith said. “Businesses have come and gone, I think for the better. We have some good variety — businesses and business owners — right in downtown. If I go back to sales for us in 2014, just the volume, that’s changed a lot.”
In March 2025, Simply Oak left downtown Elon due to raised rent prices for its area. Smith said it was different from many of the neighboring businesses as it wasn’t related to the food industry or university, so it brought different kinds of customers in. With looming inflation and tariffs being imposed by the Trump administration, Smith is concerned for the future of his business.
“A lot of the stuff that we sell is imported. All our syrups, sauces, tea — all that comes from England,” Smith said. “Otherwise, plastic cups, lids, sleeves, straws — that’s going to go up unless something changes. It means prices go up. It means people ultimately make different choices. My hope is that it’s a temporary thing that maybe does what it needs to do and can move on.”
The town’s sales tax revenue has been growing steadily each year, along the town’s projections for population growth as the PARC development progresses. The three-part PARC project includes 1,000 new housing units and a multi-use complex being built behind the Schar Center in the town of Elon. Weston imagines that PARC will create more opportunities to collaborate with athletics as the town currently has no community athletic fields, except for the ones on Elon’s campus.
Traugutt said he believes there is opportunity for growth and partnership with local businesses, but larger budgets and monetary incentives will always drive the move to new areas. He said strategic plans focused on recruiting students from community colleges in the area may be a good option for the athletics programs. Meanwhile, Weston looks to further grow collaboration efforts with athletics.
“We’re here to stay and so is the university,” Weston said. “We certainly see the impact when there are students in town, when there’s athletics. It highly impacts our downtown and our businesses.”