Duke, Louisville, UNC generate most revenue
Duke University is the top revenue generating men’s basketball program in the country, generating over 160 percent more revenue than the national average among other BCS basketball programs.
In Part I of my review of college basketball financials entitled “Revenue Comparisons Among Division I Men’s Basketball Conferences” using financial data for the 2009-2010 academic year, we saw that:
• The Big East Conference was the only conference that generated over $150 M in men’s basketball revenue;
• The Big Ten and ACC were the only other conferences that generated over $133 M in men’s basketball revenue;
• Only three conferences (Big Ten, ACC, SEC) generated over $10 M in men’s basketball revenue per school.
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| In Pictures: The 10 highest revenue generating college basketball teams |
In Part II of my analysis of college basketball financials herein, I analyze which BCS-conference schools generate the most revenues from men’s college basketball.
Similar to my first report, the data reported herein was obtained from the U.S. Department of Education. Federal statute requires schools to report the financials for their athletic departments, and it also helps define itemized expense and revenue categories which builds uniformity in data reporting. This makes for a robust data source. The most recent data available is for the 2009 academic year.
Duke, Louisville, North Carolina top the revenue list
There are six BCS Conferences (Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, ACC, Pac 10, SEC) with a combined 73 teams.
The average BCS Men’s Basketball program generated $10.1 M in revenue. The median revenue was significantly lower at $8.8 M, which suggests (as we’ll soon see) that some teams near the top of the distribution were significant outliers and were well above the national average.
Significant points to note:
•The Top three schools financially in men’s basketball (Duke, Louisville, North Carolina) are the only schools that (A) generated over $20 M and (B) earned at least 100 percent more men’s basketball revenue relative to the national average.
Duke and Louisville truly stand out, generating 164 percent and 157 percent more than the national average, respectively.
• Thirteen schools generated at least 50 percent more revenue from men’s basketball than the national average.
The Big Ten leads the way with four of those teams (Wisconsin, Indiana, Ohio St, Michigan), then two each from the ACC, Big East, SEC, and Big 12, and only one Pac 10 school (Arizona).
• Conversely, there are nine schools that generated at least 50 percent less revenue from men’s basketball than the national average. Not only are four of those nine schools from the Pac 10 (Oregon, USC, Washington St, Oregon St), but another of these nine schools (Colorado) will be joining the Pac 12 next season.
Indeed, we see why Larry Scott, new commissioner of the Pac 12 Conference, was hired to infuse new life, vitality, and aggressive revenue-seeking behavior into this entity.
Big Ten has seen the most growth
Likely linked to the creation of The Big Ten Network which launched in August 2007, the Big Ten has shown the most growth in men’s basketball revenues since 2003.
The table below compares men’s basketball revenue for the entire conference in 2009 to 2003. It corrects for inflation by using CPI data from 2009 and 2003 to calculate the 2003 revenues in “2009 dollars.” Lastly, a “growth ratio” is calculated to see the growth in “real revenues” from 2003 to 2009.
| Conference | 2009 | 2003 | 2003 (in 2009 $) | Growth Ratio |
| Big Ten | $138,054,933 | $37,708,837 | $43,976,630 | 3.14 |
| ACC | $98,323,694 | 1.57 | ||
| Big East | $154,122,296 | $88,058,061 | $102,147,351 | 1.51 |
| SEC | $124,636,534 | $73,261,482 | $84,983,319 | 1.47 |
| Big 12 | $105,706,308 | $67,572,143 | $78,383,686 | 1.35 |
| Pac 10 | $80,129,005 | $54,537,074 | $63,263,006 | 1.27 |
Four of the six BCS conferences have seen real growth rates in men’s basketball revenue between 35 and 57 percent.
However, the Big Ten has seen the greatest growth by far. Their conference revenues from men’s basketball are 214 percent greater than in 2003 after adjusting for inflation.
Data like this makes it clear why conferences want their own sports networks.
If any of the conferences could use a cable network to promote its own sports league, it’s the Pac 10. At 27 percent growth, their men’s basketball revenues have grown the least over that six-year span.
The top five:
1. Duke University
2. University of Louisville
3. University of North Carolina
4. University of Arizona
5. Syracuse University
• See more schools
In Pictures: The 10 highest revenue generating college basketball teams
More numbers
The table below ranks all 73 BCS teams in terms of their men’s basketball revenue reported in 2009, and calculates a ‘ratio’ between that team’s revenue relative to the national mean.
| Rank | Team | MBB Rev | Index |
| 1 | Duke | $26,667,056 | 2.64 |
| 2 | Louisville | $25,890,003 | 2.57 |
| 3 | North Carolina | $20,551,168 | 2.04 |
| 4 | Arizona | $19,285,038 | 1.91 |
| 5 | Syracuse | $18,309,470 | 1.82 |
| 6 | Wisconsin | $17,666,311 | 1.75 |
| 7 | Kentucky | $16,781,239 | 1.66 |
| 8 | Indiana | $16,570,158 | 1.64 |
| 9 | Ohio St. | $16,190,723 | 1.61 |
| 10 | Michigan St. | $16,138,167 | 1.60 |
| 11 | Kansas | $16,116,502 | 1.60 |
| 12 | Texas | $15,602,348 | 1.55 |
| 13 | Arkansas | $15,515,830 | 1.54 |
| 14 | Illinois | $14,413,222 | 1.43 |
| 15 | Marquette | $13,877,475 | 1.38 |
| 16 | Minnesota | $13,733,316 | 1.36 |
| 17 | West Virginia | $13,306,654 | 1.32 |
| 18 | Tennessee | $13,301,579 | 1.32 |
| 19 | Pittsburgh | $13,117,849 | 1.30 |
| 20 | UCLA | $12,353,487 | 1.23 |
| 21 | Oklahoma State | $12,085,306 | 1.20 |
| 22 | Washington | $11,481,376 | 1.14 |
| 23 | Alabama | $10,766,327 | 1.07 |
| 24 | Maryland | $10,739,282 | 1.06 |
| 25 | NC State | $10,354,157 | 1.03 |
| 26 | Florida | $10,184,136 | 1.01 |
| 27 | Georgetown | $10,074,618 | 1.00 |
| 28 | Northwestern | $10,048,801 | 1.00 |
| 29 | Virginia | $9,788,223 | 0.97 |
| 30 | Auburn | $9,588,191 | 0.95 |
| 31 | Missouri | $9,540,265 | 0.95 |
| 32 | Virginia Tech | $9,252,293 | 0.92 |
| 33 | South Carolina | $9,190,794 | 0.91 |
| 34 | Vanderbilt | $9,182,578 | 0.91 |
| 35 | Georgia Tech | $9,143,914 | 0.91 |
| 36 | Wake Forest | $9,064,780 | 0.90 |
| 37 | Texas A & M | $8,853,325 | 0.88 |
| 38 | Iowa | $8,796,540 | 0.87 |
| 39 | Oklahoma | $8,626,247 | 0.86 |
| 40 | Arizona St. | $8,591,421 | 0.85 |
| 41 | Penn St. | $8,384,315 | 0.83 |
| 42 | Georgia | $8,331,515 | 0.83 |
| 43 | Michigan | $8,321,413 | 0.83 |
| 44 | Mississippi State | $8,205,804 | 0.81 |
| 45 | Boston College | $8,026,369 | 0.80 |
| 46 | Purdue | $7,791,967 | 0.77 |
| 47 | Connecticut | $7,745,145 | 0.77 |
| 48 | Villanova | $7,652,470 | 0.76 |
| 49 | Kansas State | $7,259,800 | 0.72 |
| 50 | Iowa State | $7,182,665 | 0.71 |
| 51 | University of Miami | $7,081,121 | 0.70 |
| 52 | Clemson | $7,054,691 | 0.70 |
| 53 | California | $6,967,208 | 0.69 |
| 54 | Ole Miss | $6,821,532 | 0.68 |
| 55 | LSU | $6,767,009 | 0.67 |
| 56 | St. John’s | $6,741,298 | 0.67 |
| 57 | DePaul | $6,528,661 | 0.65 |
| 58 | Providence | $6,460,838 | 0.64 |
| 59 | Seton Hall | $6,215,923 | 0.62 |
| 60 | Stanford | $6,191,021 | 0.61 |
| 61 | Nebraska | $6,022,208 | 0.60 |
| 62 | Florida State | $5,756,857 | 0.57 |
| 63 | Baylor | $5,737,350 | 0.57 |
| 64 | Texas Tech | $5,092,921 | 0.51 |
| 65 | Oregon St. | $4,938,930 | 0.49 |
| 66 | Cincinnati | $4,927,771 | 0.49 |
| 67 | Rutgers | $4,634,026 | 0.46 |
| 68 | South Florida | $4,588,627 | 0.46 |
| 69 | Notre Dame | $4,051,468 | 0.40 |
| 70 | Colorado | $3,587,371 | 0.36 |
| 71 | Washington St. | $3,544,745 | 0.35 |
| 72 | USC | $3,535,629 | 0.35 |
| 73 | Oregon | $3,240,150 | 0.32 |
| MEAN | $10,083,959 | ||
| MEDIAN | $8,853,325 |
