The money of college football....

As the BCS title game approaches, once again we hear everyone talking about how a "playoff" system would be better for college football, and even how it would "make more money" than the current bowl and BCS system does for the schools.

Well, since it is that time of year for the debate, one thing that VERY few people ever put together is the facts about the dollars of college football.

I will attempt to do that here, or more accurately, just put in perspective how much money is made in collegiate football programs.

Currently there are 123 Div I-A, (FBS), schools playing football. To truly understand the scope of money we are talking about, take the following statistics:

Div I-A (FBS) football revenue breakdown for all of 2007, (this does NOT include any revenue booked for bowl games played in 2008, only those from 2007, including the BCS title game last season.)

Total Revenue: $1.8 Billions
Total Profit : $721 Millions
Average Revenue per School : $14.6 Millions
Average Profit per School : $5.9 Millions

Let that sink in for a minute. The profit that schools make on college football, on average, is higher than MOST companies in America that are not in the Fortune 500. We are talking "profit" here. That is money that the school athletic departments can then use in whatever way they see fit. And note: almost NONE of that money goes to big coaching salaries, as the vast majority of coaching salaries is determined by a base salary set by the state and then added on to by boosters, sponsors, and other outside dollars.

But remember the dollars in college football are NOT evenly distributed, making that average both of revenues and profits completely artificial and very much misleading.

So who are the big winners in college football...err..dollar wise, I mean.


Top 5 biggest revenue producers

U. of Texas : $63.8 Millions
U. of Georgia : $59.5 Millions
Ohio State U. : $59.1 Millions
U. of Florida : $58.9 Millions
Auburn U. : $46.8 Millions

That is a huge amount of revenue streams. But even with that, how much did they keep?

Top 5 biggest profit winners

U. of Texas : $46.2 Millions
U. of Georgia : $43.1 Millions
U. of Florida : $38.2 Millions
U. of Michigan : $36.2 Millions
Auburn U. : $33.9 Millions

Note the change of OSU for UM in the revenue to profit margins. UMich does not generate as much revenue, but keeps a TON more in pure profit. Apparently OSU's cost structure is even higher than we might think...(although, they did come in at #6).

The point to this is that it is obvious, even for a 6th grader with rudimentary math skills, that the top 10% of revenue producers in college football, keep nearly 80% of the total profits made in this business. And make no mistake, this IS big business.

And what is even odder is that it can be literally MORE profitable to sit home and NOT play in a post-season bowl game, than it is to send your team to play in one.

All of this information is freely available, and I found mine on CNNMoney.

The bottom line, (pardon the pun), is this: no matter what people may want with regard to a Div I-A playoff system for college football, the massive amounts of dollars that football generates under the current system will be nearly impossible to overcome.