Follow the Money - The Big Business of College Football

[woolybug25]

So wait a gd red second... am I reading this wrong or does this say that we are now allowed to pay players?

 

[D-BOE34]

So wait a gd red second... am I reading this wrong or does this say that we are now allowed to pay players?

Not yet? The new guy has to not overrule and then it will finalize at some point? That's what it sounds like happened at NW and now they can pay people... or something and stuffs.

 

[Calabrese's People]

So wait a gd red second... am I reading this wrong or does this say that we are now allowed to pay players?

Wimbush tomorrow at the Gug..

 

[NDdomer2]

Somewhat also related: NCAA agrees to historic $209M settlement over scholarship shortages

 

[irishtrain]

Its the reason why some schools play to win,join a conference for $$$$$$$ and why they are in the business of college football. May I remind everyone using Alabama as an example--their endowment is like # 60 in the country if I remember correctly and about 1/10 of what Notre Dame's is. They need to win they need the $$$$ that the football program brings in thru assoc with sec package, tv, sales of crap to put on your car etc. The bills are paid at Notre Dame before they put a jock on in August-----but its also the reason the football team is able to be run as an extra circular item and why the admn doesn't care too much about winning until the embarrassment of 4-8 seasons. Then they get in a lather (I think) only because it makes the school look less powerful less important. If Notre Dame was in Alabama's shoes I can assure you they would have 85 guys on campus to win a football game just like Alabama. To take this one step further if Notre Dame wanted to they could dwarf any stadium extension (another ring on the stadium and make it 120,0000), coaching buy, or any other expenditure to the football program that would win games---they simply just don't have to.

 

[Legacy]

College athletics conferences are set up as non-profit organizations.

The SEC is the first conference to release its tax return, reporting a total revenue of $639 million during its 2016 fiscal year. Each of its fourteen schools received about $40 million after expenses.

Some SEC schools received $40M-plus in 2016 fiscal year

Additionally, the ten schools that went to football bowl games also kept $18.3 million to cover travel and other bowl-related expenses.

 

[Legacy]

UGA has set aside $32 million, partly in case college players eventually start getting paid

The University of Georgia’s athletic department has spent a good chunk of change on its football program recently, with $24 million going toward a new indoor practice facility, and the recent announcement of a $63 million renovation of Sanford Stadium. All but $10 million of that money will come from fundraising.

According to SEC Country, UGA has been able to accomplish all of this without using any of its “reserve money,” that includes over $32 million which is kept to be used for “general support” of UGA athletics.

“There are a lot of assumptions that people are making, that this revenue stream is going to be there forever,” athletics director Greg McGarity said. “If we end up having to pay student-athletes down the road, where is that money going to come from? … There are a lot of unknowns, and what this allows us to do, and the right way, is to have a buffer there that allows us to cover the unexpected.” ...

 

[Legacy]

Big 12 flush with cash, no talk of schools leaving conference

 

[Legacy]

This is not about the Benjamins.

Gary Andersen parting ways with Oregon State midseason, leaving millions of dollars on the table

Oregon State coach Gary Andersen, who mutually agreed to part ways with the Beavers on Monday, also forfeited the money he was owned in the final four years of his contract. He would have been paid more than $12 million under the terms of a contract extension he signed in December.

 

[Irishize]

Sorry if there’s a more appropriate thread but thought this was some good insight.

https://race.usc.edu/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/2018_Sports_Report.pdf

University of Georgia, Ohio State University, and Louisiana State University had the most significant percentage point drops in Black male student-athlete graduation rates over the past two years.

Check out tOSU...they’re numbers are atrocious for black athletes.

 

[Valpodoc85]

Ranking NCAA football programs by profit

Which are the 25 richest programs in college football? For Power Five schools, profits more staggering than ever | PennLive.com

 

[ND NYC]

Ranking NCAA football programs by profit

Which are the 25 richest programs in college football? For Power Five schools, profits more staggering than ever | PennLive.com

I believe those numbers don't include tv revenues

 

[Valpodoc85]

Crazy numbers. Surprised Tenn was that high

 

[koonja]

Crazy numbers. Surprised Tenn was that high

We're 3rd in profit. For profit, holy Tennessee and Texas, sheesh.

 

[Ndaccountant]

I believe those numbers don't include tv revenues

are you saying that for everyone of just for ND?

 

[Valpodoc85]

Numbers from 2008 with tv revenue

College Athletics Revenues and Expenses - ESPN

Those two sets of numbers don't compute 2017 profits and 2008

 

[Irish YJ]

Crazy numbers. Surprised Tenn was that high

And that's with shitty on field performance.
TN's fan base is huge. Stadium is huge. If they can get lucky and get the right coach those numbers will take a decent tick up as well. I know there are a lot of UT haters on the board, but the game day experience in Knoxville is awesome. I've taken a lot of buddies who were SEC haters, and they all were blown away. UT/UGA games are awesome.

 

[Valpodoc85]

I understand the same, just surprised they had that kind of revenue, and I guess Alabama wasn't higher. Maybe the tide has higher expenses.

 

[Irish YJ]

I understand the same, just surprised they had that kind of revenue, and I guess Alabama wasn't higher. Maybe the tide has higher expenses.

only a 2M dif in gross rev (TN vs Bama), but a 33M dif in profit. 3T and the other bag men have huge budgets. In all seriousness, TN does need to spend more if they want to compete. I'm not going to go through them all and do the math, but I'd bet Bama is probably spending the most on FB.

 

[loomis41973]

And that's with shitty on field performance.
TN's fan base is huge. Stadium is huge. If they can get lucky and get the right coach those numbers will take a decent tick up as well. I know there are a lot of UT haters on the board, but the game day experience in Knoxville is awesome. I've taken a lot of buddies who were SEC haters, and they all were blown away. UT/UGA games are awesome.

My 2nd favorite team and 2nd degree. Awesome place for a game...hope they get their shit together soon. Some epic tales/scenes from tailgating at Neyland

 

[Irish YJ]

My 2nd favorite team and 2nd degree. Awesome place for a game...hope they get their shit together soon. Some epic tales/scenes from tailgating at Neyland

Same here (2nd fav team, and epic times). From tent and RV romps, to DJ'ing from the top of a UGA converted party bus to a few hundred UT and UGA fans.... good times. And don't get me started about the girls wearing boots and dresses during rush....

 

[Legacy]

Priority point level to buy new UGA football season tickets zooms to new record

To be a new Georgia football season ticket holder, a fan needed to contribute more money than ever for seats in Sanford Stadium.

It takes 23,900 priority points on top of the $275 per seat price tag for renewable season tickets, according to cutoff scores the school posted to its athletic website Tuesday evening.

Such is the desire for fans to see a Georgia team that nearly won the national championship last season in its first trip to the College Football Playoff. The Bulldogs are expected to be contenders again in coach Kirby Smart’s third season.

The previous top priority point cutoff was 10,651 cumulative priority points in 2008, a year after Georgia won the Sugar Bowl and was preseason No. 1. The number was 1,001 in 2014, 6,701 in 2015 and 1,201 in 2016.

A donor gets a priority point for every dollar given to the Hartman Fund for football season tickets, or a contribution to any other specific sport.

Magill Society donors who have contributed to major gifts for facility improvements get a point and a half per dollar under $100,000 and two points per dollar for over $100,000. Those donations are over a five-year period.

Only a year ago, coming off an 8-5 season, a first-time buyer could purchase season tickets for only 550 priority points, which was everyone that gave the minimum amount.

“It says a lot about the excitement around our program right now,” said Bulldog Club executive director Matt Borman. “It presents itself with some difficult conversations for us because we want to be able to allocate tickets to everybody that’s supporting us but unfortunately we just don’t have the inventory right now to do that and the reason is the tremendous renewal rate and retention rate we had this year.”

Points can be accumulated by cumulative giving, current year giving or Magill Society membership.


Georgia had approximately 1,100 tickets that were not renewed and therefore were assigned as new season tickets. About 900 others made a donation and were not able to get them because they fell below the new priority points threshold.

Those with season tickets already were able to renew them, Borman said.

“We just went through the list of requests of new tickets from the top point down and we ran out of tickets at that point,” Borman said.

Borman said the new priority point cutoff that is more than twice as high as the previous record didn’t have anything to do with Georgia raising season ticket prices $25 a game for power five conference opponents to $75 per ticket and $5 for other games to $55. He said it showed that the price hike didn’t affect the renewal rate.

The Bulldog Club will contact donors who wanted new renewable adjacent season tickets but didn’t qualify to see if they are interested in a single, non-adjacent season ticket or a five-game mini-package with adjacent seats, the school posted on its website.

Playing Notre Dame in Athens in 2019 wouldn't have had anything to do with this too?

"My name's Johnny, and it might be a sin
But I'll take your bet; and you're gonna regret cause I'm the best there's ever been."

 

[Legacy]

'Tis the offseason where midlevels and states with budget shortfalls or new ADs tasked with being more budget-conscious are cutting programs. Football and basketball never get cut, leading to Title IX pressures on scholarships. Programs being cut in addition to athletic teams.

The state of Kentucky has a budget shortfall of $25-30 mill with EKU and WKU cutting programs. Others I've seen are E. Mich and N. Mexico.

-Western Kentucky University to cut 140 jobs, eliminate programs to deal with deficit
-Funding eliminated for WKU's swimming and diving program
-EKU board finalizes program closures and 153 job cuts. Two sports teams eliminated.
-Eastern Michigan University cuts four sports, leaves football alone
- UNM Regents vote to cut four sports programs (New Mexico. Bob Davie makes $800,000 a year)

Whether student-athletes' scholarships are maintained through their graduation, buyouts, coaches looking for jobs or athletes transferring, midlevels with football looking for less expensive coaches in the future, minimum athletic teams required by conferences are all issues. Midlevels in football can earn $1-1.5 million for buy-in games, though many P5 teams are filling up their schedules at least through 2020.

 

[Legacy]

The Nebraska - Akron game in September was canceled due to lightning and thunderstorms. Akron just settled with Nebraska for their payout. Akron gets $600,00 plus agreed to a future game in 2025 in Lincoln. (The Zips were to be paid $1.17 million for the canceled game.) Akron will be paid $1.45 million for the future game.

Nebraska scheduled their twelfth game (seventh home game) on Oct 27 and played Bethune-Cookman. The Huskers paid B-C $800,000 for the game.

Meanwhile, Akron scheduled a twelfth game with South Carolina on Dec 1, who had a game against Marshall cancelled due to a hurricane. S.C. refunded all tickets for the Marshall game.

S.C. scheduled Akron for their seventh home game in Columbia on Dec 1 to make up for the cancellation. The Gamecocks usually have 70,000 fans in attendance and make between $2 and $2.5 million per game. A few days prior to the Akron game, S.C. had sold 29,000 tickets and ended up giving away tickets, announcing an attendance of 53,000 - their smallest of the year by far.

Akron made out on this one.

What happened with Marshall? Marshall received $300,000 for the canceled game from South Carolina. Va Tech was looking for an opponent due to a game with East Carolina canceled also due to the hurricane and additionally wanted to become bowl eligible. Contingent upon beating Virginia, which they did, the Hokies then played Marshall on Dec 1. Marshall got $300,000 for that game in Blacksburg, If Marshall was unable to make up its canceled game, they would have received $1.3 million from a Conference USA insurance policy. Va Tech also agreed to contract for home-and-home games with Va Tech for 2023 & 2024. Attendance was listed as 31,000+ with Lane Stadium's capacity at 65,000+.

By beating Marshall, Virginia Tech became bowl-eligible, will play in the Military Bowl and the Hokies were able to keep their consecutive bowl appearance streak alive, which is now the longest in the nation at twenty-six years. As far as the hurricane canceled game with East Carolina, since ECU canceled the game because it did not want to travel early to Blacksburg, Virginia Tech will not owe them any money.

East Carolina made up their canceled game by playing North Carolina State and received $300,000 for the game. That is the same amount NC St would have paid West Virginia for their game that needed to be canceled due to the hurricane.

 

[Legacy]

Posted by Irishize in another thread:

Heaven Helps Notre Dame Football While Taxpayers Subsidize Alabama, Clemson, Oklahoma
(Forbes)

 

[MNIrishman]

Posted by Irishize in another thread:

Heaven Helps Notre Dame Football While Taxpayers Subsidize Alabama, Clemson, Oklahoma
(Forbes)

Man, think how much better it would be if the other programs in college football operated as ethically as we do?

If:
1) A D-League existed
2) Schools couldn't use tuition dollars to fund football
3) Only "college ready" athletes were admittable
4) Athletes had to take audited, accredited majors at all universities
5) Athletes had to graduate at a clip that was within a standard deviation of the general student population

It'd be us v. Stanford every year and Alabama and Clemson etc. would have football programs that accurately reflect the profound mediocrity of those institutions.

 

[MJ12666]

Posted by Irishize in another thread:

Heaven Helps Notre Dame Football While Taxpayers Subsidize Alabama, Clemson, Oklahoma
(Forbes)

These three universities did profit from football: Oklahoma made $58.1 million (revenue: $95.9M, expenses: $37.8M); Alabama made $46 million (revenue: $108M, expenses: $62M); and Clemson made $7.8 million (revenue: $51.7M, expenses $43.9M).

Meanwhile, Notre Dame used zero public funds and made the most money from football: $63 million (revenue: $96.8M, expenses: $33.2M).

Yet, Alabama, Clemson, and Oklahoma have already spent their future football profits. In 2017, Bloomberg found that Alabama football is built on a crippling debt and owes $225 million over the next 28 years in borrowed debt on their program. Oklahoma has roughly $110 million in debts to cover. Clemson tripled its debt over the past decade, and now each student pays $1,414 to cover

This is a bit misleading as the profits being generated by AL and OK could pay off the debt in approximately 5 yrs or less should the schools choose to do so. There is not enough information in the article to comment on Clemson but since the author of the article chose not to disclose the actual size of the debt my quess is that Clemson can also pay off the debt in a relative short period of time if is chooses to do so.

 

[Bishop2b5]

This is a bit misleading as the profits being generated by AL and OK could pay off the debt in approximately 5 yrs or less should the schools choose to do so. There is not enough information in the article to comment on Clemson but since the author of the article chose not to disclose the actual size of the debt my quess is that Clemson can also pay off the debt in a relative short period of time if is chooses to do so.

The article was extremely misleading. Crippling debt??? Seriously? He insinuates that the taxpayers are paying Saban's salary and paying for stadium renovations. He absolutely knows this isn't so, but he insinuates it, leaving the uninformed reader to make assumptions which aren't accurate. It was an intentionally misleading and dishonest article. Bama had a bond issue to overhaul the stadium and improve athletic facilities. The payback on the bonds is about $10 million per year. It's paid back primarily by the athletic department from revenue generated by football, and underwritten by the state (not surprising since the state owns the stadium and other facilities).

The article totally (and intentionally) misses the point: football generates a huge amount of money and pays for its own expenses such as facilities, salaries, and operating costs, plus it funds the non-revenue generating sports, and gives millions back to the university for funding professors, scholarships, new buildings, etc. It's not being funded by taxpayers. It's funding stuff that taxpayers would've had to pay for if not for football generating so much money.

 

[Circa]

Posted by Irishize in another thread:

Heaven Helps Notre Dame Football While Taxpayers Subsidize Alabama, Clemson, Oklahoma
(Forbes)

Money Is a very funny way to look at on-field results. I believe the money Is the problem and who's pockets are a must to be lined. I really wish the government would get involved just like in NCAAMB. There isn't enough information out there for us tax-payers to completely understand the money line.

 

[RallySonsOfND]

This is a bit misleading as the profits being generated by AL and OK could pay off the debt in approximately 5 yrs or less should the schools choose to do so. There is not enough information in the article to comment on Clemson but since the author of the article chose not to disclose the actual size of the debt my quess is that Clemson can also pay off the debt in a relative short period of time if is chooses to do so.

I don’t think they could, unless they shuttered non-revenue sports as the profits from Football and some schools men’s basketball are what are funding those programs.