Saturday, April 15, 2006
College Athletics Part 1 - big business
The Atlanta Journal Constitution reports on Sunday that the Georgia Bulldogs athletic department made a profit of $23.9 million last year based on data reported to the US Department of Education. This made it the most profitable athletic department in the country.
http://www.ajc.com/sports/content/sports/uga/stories/0416gamoney.html
The top 5 most profitable athletic departments included:
School Revenues Expenses Operating profit
1. Georgia $68.8 million $44.9 million $23.9 million
2. Michigan $78.4 million $61.3 million $17.1 million
3. Wisconsin $75.3 million $59.5 million $15.8 million
4. Texas $89.7 million $74.4 million $15.3 million
5. Alabama $62.3 million $49.8 million $12.5 million
Note: Figures do not include depreciation and debt service.
So of course I wanted to see how my alma mater Stanford and other schools of interest ranked against these figures. I went to the US Department of Education web site with the data (http://ope.ed.gov/athletics/Search.asp) and compiled the following:
Stanford revenue - $41,525,646; expenses - $41,784,647
Cal revenue - $43,886,419; expenses - $51,774,029
UCLA revenue - $44,516,613; expenses - $44,514,157
U$C revenue - $60,732,435; expenses - $60,732,435
Oregon revenue - $40,107,833; expenses - $40,107,833
Oregon State revenue - $36,765,531; expenses - $35,626,358
Arizona revenue - $38,985,159; expenses - $38,985,159
Arizona State revenue - $39,632,445; expenses - $38,047,329
Washington revenue - $43,197,964; expenses - $45,423,346
Washington State revenue - $26,221,008; expenses - $25,703,517
Notre Dame revenue - $57,649,586; expenses - $48,188,542
Oklahoma revenue - $63,382,024; expenses - $62,897,773
Summary findings - most Pac 10 schools operate close to break even except Cal which has an $8 million deficit. Moreover, most Pac 10 schools' athletic departments have comparable revenues and expenses except for U$C which takes in $15 - 20 million more and Washington State which takes in $10 - 20 million less than their peers.
These numbers seem to reinforce that there is a hierarchy of big market/small market teams within the major conferences just as there is in Major League Baseball. Fortunately, there is still some competitive balance despite the revenue disparity. Within the Pac 10, for example, seven of the ten teams have played in the Rose Bowl in the last 10 years.
I will be interested to see the effect on revenues of Stanford's new stadium, (hopefully) increased attendance and new revenue sources.
http://www.ajc.com/sports/content/sports/uga/stories/0416gamoney.html
The top 5 most profitable athletic departments included:
School Revenues Expenses Operating profit
1. Georgia $68.8 million $44.9 million $23.9 million
2. Michigan $78.4 million $61.3 million $17.1 million
3. Wisconsin $75.3 million $59.5 million $15.8 million
4. Texas $89.7 million $74.4 million $15.3 million
5. Alabama $62.3 million $49.8 million $12.5 million
Note: Figures do not include depreciation and debt service.
So of course I wanted to see how my alma mater Stanford and other schools of interest ranked against these figures. I went to the US Department of Education web site with the data (http://ope.ed.gov/athletics/Search.asp) and compiled the following:
Stanford revenue - $41,525,646; expenses - $41,784,647
Cal revenue - $43,886,419; expenses - $51,774,029
UCLA revenue - $44,516,613; expenses - $44,514,157
U$C revenue - $60,732,435; expenses - $60,732,435
Oregon revenue - $40,107,833; expenses - $40,107,833
Oregon State revenue - $36,765,531; expenses - $35,626,358
Arizona revenue - $38,985,159; expenses - $38,985,159
Arizona State revenue - $39,632,445; expenses - $38,047,329
Washington revenue - $43,197,964; expenses - $45,423,346
Washington State revenue - $26,221,008; expenses - $25,703,517
Notre Dame revenue - $57,649,586; expenses - $48,188,542
Oklahoma revenue - $63,382,024; expenses - $62,897,773
Summary findings - most Pac 10 schools operate close to break even except Cal which has an $8 million deficit. Moreover, most Pac 10 schools' athletic departments have comparable revenues and expenses except for U$C which takes in $15 - 20 million more and Washington State which takes in $10 - 20 million less than their peers.
These numbers seem to reinforce that there is a hierarchy of big market/small market teams within the major conferences just as there is in Major League Baseball. Fortunately, there is still some competitive balance despite the revenue disparity. Within the Pac 10, for example, seven of the ten teams have played in the Rose Bowl in the last 10 years.
I will be interested to see the effect on revenues of Stanford's new stadium, (hopefully) increased attendance and new revenue sources.
