Alabama Football Program Profits $47M-Plus In '16, Boosting School's Athletic Revenue

The Univ. of Alabama football program "netted a profit in excess" of $47M last year, according to Aaron Suttles of the TUSCALOOSA NEWS. The program earned $103,871,075 in '16, "helped in large part" by nearly $21M in media rights fees along with more than $37M in ticket sales. The $47,794,452 in profit is "up more than a million" from '15. The athletic department as a whole made a profit of $18.7M in '16, with total revenues of $164M minus total expenses of $145.3M. That profit is up from $16.6M in '15 (TUSCALOOSA NEWS, 2/23). In Birmingham, Michael Casagrande notes football accounts for 63.3% of Alabama's athletic revenue, and men's basketball is next at 8.8%. The biggest jump from '15 "came in the media rights category." Alabama made $42.4M in '16, up 21.3% from the previous year. In the past 11 years, Alabama's revenue has "jumped" 142% from $67.7M in '06 to $164M in '16. This serves as an example of the "still rising bank accounts of college athletics" (AL.com, 2/23).