Texas Tops Among FBS Revenue/Profits Last Season; Penn State Sees Drop

The Univ. of Texas football program during the ‘11-12 season “generated the most revenue and highest profit among all programs, but the rest of the top 10 saw some changes,” according to NCAA data cited by Kristi Dosh of ESPN.com. Michigan finished in second place with $14.8M more in profits than in '10-11, as an additional home game “accounted for about $6 million in additional revenue.” Perhaps “most glaringly absent from the top 10 most profitable programs is Penn State, which held the second spot just a year ago and third the previous year.” PSU fell to 11th place with $66.2M in revenue, a $6.5M reduction. Revenue among FBS programs “ranged from a high" of $103.8M at Texas to a low of $3.6M at the Univ. of Louisiana-Monroe. The average FBS program brought in $25M, with a median of $19.9M. The highest expenses for a football program ($36.9M) went to Alabama, "which has the nation’s highest-paid head coach, Nick Saban.” Saban last season “took home a $4.8 million paycheck” (ESPN.com, 12/12).

MOST-PROFITABLE FOOTBALL PROGRAMS
SCHOOL	REVENUE	EXPENSES	PROFIT
Texas	$103.8M	$25.9M	$77.9M
Michigan	$85.2M	$23.6M	$61.6M
Georgia	$75.0M	$22.7M	$52.3M
Florida	$74.1M	$23.1M	$51.1M
Alabama	$82.0M	$36.9M	$45.1M
LSU	$68.8M	$24.1M	$44.8M
Auburn	$77.2M	$33.3M	$43.8M
Notre Dame	$69.0M	$25.8M	$43.2M
Arkansas	$64.2M	$24.3M	$39.9M
Nebraska	$55.1M	$18.7M	$36.4M

LIMITED-TIME OFFER: In Knoxville, Mike Strange noted Tennessee is “offering a limited number of 2013 season tickets without the usual required donation,” hoping to “win back fans after three consecutive losing seasons.” The $300 season tickets are “for the higher rows of the south end zone upper deck.” UT Associate AD/Communications Jimmy Stanton said that the school earlier "had sold approximately one third of the 1,500 no-donation tickets” (KNOXNEWS.com, 12/13).