Presently the United States is suffering a recession. People are out of work. Folks are losing their houses to foreclosure, da, da,da. Some college programs are cash rich and some are struggling.
According to Forbes Magazine, in 2005 there were 10 college football teams raked in at least $45 million in revenues--among them, the University of Notre Dame, University of Georgia, Ohio State and Auburn University--compared to none the previous five years. Forbes Magazine
In 2007–08 according to a study by The Orlando Sentinel, there were six college football programs with over $90 million in football revenue and nine more with revenues of over $80 million. If you care, Louisiana-Monroe had the smallest income at $7.8 million.
So is college football all about the money or what? In order to sustain and surpass such profits, schools will have to raise ticket and concession prices, demand heftier donations for the privilege of purchasing season tickets, and garner more lucrative corporate sponsorships, among other yet devised means.
To keep up with their conference and national foes, new facilities will need to be built and present ones renovated. For example, there is a lot of profit in building and selling luxury suites at stadiums. Recruiting budgets will certainly need to be increased as recruiting bases get larger and coaches’ salaries will zoom. All will require larger and larger budgets and the income to support such budgets.
Why? To what purpose does the athletic arms war contribute to a university, its mission and its goals? At many of these schools barely one-half of their Saturday gladiators even graduate.
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