<p>mom-- I think you may be mistaken with the statement that a big-time football team can get TV revenue of $14MM per home game for football. That seems way out of line with the widely reported data that suggests that Big 10 teams get TV revenue of $21MM per season.</p>
<p>I think the big time football programs make a profit for their schools. Perhaps a couple of dozen teams at least break even? The rest are caught in an escalating arms war for coaches and recruiting that eats up tons of cash. A private college has scholarship costs of, what, 80 players at $50,000 each or $4MM per year?</p>
<p>When revenue increases, atheltic departments just spend more money. I live in Louisville. U of L is one of the premier basketball programs in the country and the Cardinals draw 20,000 fans per game. So, what happens??? Rick Pitino’s salary gets increased because the university has more money. Rick makes $2.5MM per year and got a $3.6MM loyalty bonus this year for remaining as coach. He’ll get another $3.6MM in 2013. So, if U of L enjoyed attendance of 20 X 20,000 or 400,000, the first $6.00 from every ticket sold went to Rick for his salary and the loyalty bonus (if amortized this one year only) was another $9.00 per ticket. I’d say U of L basketball does generate a profit, but most colleges do not as not many can draw the 20,000 per game that U of L does yet they still must compete with coaches salaries and pay travel expenses, etc.</p>