I don’t know about this in great deal, but whether athletic departments transfer money to other school departments probably varies greatly. At some schools, athletic departments are allowed to operate separately, even taking out their own debt for new facilities, for example. Outside of the Power 5, it seems most athletic departments are just cost centers (expenses greater than revenues), but I don’t have a source for that.
Winning seasons tend to generate lots of unrestricted alumni donations to each school.
FWIW A bit over a decade ago, the President of the University of Alabama told me that the best investment that the school ever made was in hiring Nick Saban as the head football coach. As our conversation was focused on the Honors College and the newly implemented University Fellows program (intended to replicate the Foundation Fellows program at the University of Georgia), the unstated suggestion was that the success of the college football program enriched the entire university–but I do not know any specifics.
The University of Alabama article cited by @Mwfan1921 in post #40 above is full of interesting information & specifics. (For example: More women than men athletes at the Univ. of Alabama.)
The first time that I was exposed to big time Southern college football was during a summer at Wake Forest University many decades ago. There was a stage with a curtain in the dining area. I was told by full time WFU students that the football players ate there with the curtain drawn so that the regular students wouldn’t see how well the team was fed.
I spent a substantial amount of time around a major college football team the year that it won the national championship. Frequently spoke with the head coach during practice sessions as well as the future Heisman Trophy winner. Both were extremeley kind & respectful. The player was humble. I doubt that it would be the same in the current atmosphere.
Players on my prep school football team who moved on to major programs & became starters were also best described as gentlemen. One became the starting middle linebacker for Notre Dame. Very kind. Modest, hardworking & intelligent. Most went to the US Naval Academy in Annapolis. Sadly, those few were killed at an early age. I do not know, but suspect that they may have become Navy Seals as the details surrounding their deaths was not revealed.
@simba: “Larry Scott also botched the TV deal so that the Pac-12 teams get very little money and very little exposure compared to Big-10 and SEC teams.”
It’s not because of Larry Scott. The simple fact of the matter is that, on average, Pac12 football draws fewer eyeballs than B10 or SEC football. Look at which games get the top ratings every season. They’re dominated by games featuring B10 and SEC teams.
It’s a relative drop in the bucket. Even at the most successful programs (outside of maybe UT-Austin), the athletic department returns to the university low tens of millions. Tuition revenue is in the hundreds of millions. Research funding at research U’s (outside of schools like 'Bama that draws very little research funding) run from the hundreds of millions to billions. I believe research funding at each of UMich and UW-Madison is over $1B/year.
Thought I read like 6 months ago that Alabama scholarships were sponsored by the football team revenue and then they started grabbing all the high Stat Midwestern kids they could get (lol) for their almost free tuition programs like 5 years ago or so.
It’s an experience just to see the players in the Big Ten or in the SEC up close. I have no idea how the University of Iowa ever loses a game after seeing their linemen up close. That is a very serious program–especially with respect to strength training & weight lifting.
The speed, quickness, acrobatics, and power of SEC football teams is breathtaking.
An advantage of attending many Power 5 Conference schools is in the privilege of watching gymnastics competitions and the “not humanly possible” routines (truly a misnomer) as well as the track & field competitions. Wrestlers in the Big Ten are so quick that it is difficult to understand what was just witnessed. Tennis is incredible at many warm weather universities. I like women’s tennis matches better than men’s because it seems more about finesse than just sheer power. My point in the context of this thread is that watching these world class athletes perform & compete in university settings is due, in large part, to football revenue funding.
Athletics at universities such as Notre Dame, Texas, Iowa, USC, Georgia, Clemson, Penn State, Michigan, Oregon, and the other Power 5 universities creates school spirit and memories which enhance the overall college experience. Nothing like it anywhere else in the world except for international olympic type competitions.
@Publisher. Very well said and now I am missing my college sports ever so much more . I Had to resort to watching the The Arnold Strongman competition last night with my son. Entertaining but not the same. Agh…
@Publisher: 'Bama is an exception, though. I believe 'Bama is one of the few P5 research U’s where athletic revenue is actually bigger than research revenue and expenditure (UA-T actually does less research than UAB and UAH, BTW). At schools like UMich and UW-Madison (which bring in a fair amount of athletic revenue themselves), research revenue and expenditure are orders of magnitude higher.
Game day revenue is not limited to ticket sales, and all money is not treated the same. Some conferences share the TV revenues but the schools get to keep the ticket sale money, the parking (which can be substantial), the concessions, the t-shirt money. The schools make money hosting alum events, parents’ weekend, homecoming. The schools bring in a ton of money from local advertising, radio deals, renting out the mascots or the band for events. Small schools sacrifice themselves and play away games at the U of Nebraska and get paid $1M only to lose by 50 points. I think those schools get to keep that $1M and it isn’t part of revenue sharing. Colorado state got $3M when its coach bailed to UF, and they used a good part of the money to pay stipends to its athletes even though they weren’t required to do so (not a Power 5 conference school)
A loss of ticket revenue can have a dramatic impact on the Athletic Department. In 1986, Wisconsin got draconian on student behavior. This caused student attendance to drop significantly in 1987. This forced the AD to have to come to the students for a fee to cover budget shortfalls.
This is what Dad wrote me: “Athletics gives UT about $15 million per year for academics plus they pay for parking and police for athletic events, utilities, all construction related to athletics, even for a person in Admissions who handles athletes. Very few other schools do this.”
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Some conferences share the TV revenues but the schools get to keep the ticket sale money, the parking (which can be substantial), the concessions, the t-shirt money. The schools make money hosting alum events, parents’ weekend, homecoming. The schools bring in a ton of money from local advertising, radio deals, renting out the mascots or the band for events.
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Tickets, parking, concessions, alum events, homecoming, local advertising: those revenues are gone anyway, if fans are not allowed at events. Even if some separate box seats were available for these games, but no bleacher seats, probably such seats wouldn’t be very attractive to buyers. Watching a football game in an almost empty stadium doesn’t sound like the festive, fun, raucous event that people want. You might as well stay home and watch on TV.
As practice typically happens in spring and summer and that is not happening now (in any official, organized way), my guess is they’ll start practicing in the late summer and fall and play a modified season starting late fall. Weather may be an issue as college football is generally done in December with bowl games played for a month, primarily in warmer climates.