Here are football revenues in the Sun Belt by school:

Football Revenue

Florida Intl $6,915,199.00
MTSU $6,638,007.00
Western Kentucky $5,768,244.00
Troy Univ $5,386,426.00
Univ South Alabama $5,177,338.00
Univ North Texas $4,315,701.00
Louisiana – Lafayette $4,210,176.00
Arkansas State Univ $3,760,642.00
Louisiana – Monroe $2,982,373.00
Florida Atlantic $2,280,834.00

The highest revenue-producing schools in the Sun Belt Conference are well below the average for the Mountain West and Conference USA. The bottom two in the Sun Belt aren’t even generating half what the top producers in the conference are bringing in

There’s only a slight shift in order when we look at the biggest spenders on football in the Sun Belt:

Football Expenses
MTSU $6,638,007.00
Florida Intl $6,225,125.00
Western Kentucky $5,768,244.00
Univ South Alabama $5,177,338.00
Troy Univ $5,029,312.00
Florida Atlantic $4,610,870.00
Univ North Texas $4,315,701.00
Louisiana – Lafayette $4,210,176.00
Arkansas State Univ $3,760,642.00
Louisiana – Monroe $2,982,373.00

If you’re already doing the math in your head, you’ve probably figured out now many schools in the Sun Belt are turning a profit on football. Here are net profits

Football Profit
Florida Intl $690,074.00
Troy Univ $357,114.00
Arkansas State Univ $0.00
Louisiana – Lafayette $0.00
Louisiana – Monroe $0.00
MTSU $0.00
Univ North Texas $0.00
Univ South Alabama $0.00
Western Kentucky $0.00
Florida Atlantic -$2,330,036.00

If you’ve been reading BusinessofCollegeSports.com for long, you know what happens when football doesn’t make enough money to help cover the other sports. Generally, what happens is a greater reliance on institutional support. At some schools that means student fees. In fact, the Sun Belt had the second highest average for percent of athletic budget derived from student fees, behind only the Mid-American. Two Sun Belt schools, Florida Atlantic and Florida International, are in the top five out of all BCS schools for percentage of athletic department revenue coming from student fees. Florida International leads all BCS schools at 71% and is #4 in dollar amount at $15.6 million.

You won’t be surprised to find out only one school is reporting a net profit for their athletic department:


Athletic Dept Profit
Florida Atlantic $1,073,745.00
Arkansas State Univ $0.00
Florida Intl $0.00
Louisiana – Lafayette $0.00
Louisiana – Monroe $0.00
MTSU $0.00
Univ North Texas $0.00
Univ South Alabama $0.00
Troy Univ $0.00
Western Kentucky $0.00

As I’ve explained before, showing a profit on these reports to the Department of Education does not mean the athletic department turns an actual profit. For most non-AQ schools, and some AQ schools, they can show this profit only by including funds like student fees and university subsidies. In Florida Atlantic’s case, $8.9 million, or 55%, of their total revenue is from student fees.

Data is July 1, 2009 to June 30, 2010, so we’re talking about the 2009 football season

LINK
http://businessofcollegesports.com/category/sun-belt/

Using the same academic period and drilling into the numbers, I'm going to look at FAU because it was shown as having a profit.

Revenue from conducting the business of an athletic department
Ticket sales $549,258.00
Game Guarantees $1,914,000.00
Contributions $709,938.00
Compensation and benefits provided by a third party $12,000.00
Program sales, concession, novelty sales, and parking $80,489.00
NCAA/conference distributions including all tournament revenues $960,798.00
Royalties, licensing, advertisements and sponsorships $334,920.00
Endowment and investment income $2,486.00
Other $640,328.00 (source unknown)

Revenue from student fees and university resources
Student fees $8,877,456.00
Direct institutional support $1,413,934.00
Indirect facilities and administrative support $789,011.00

68.8% of FAU's revenues were funded from sources other than conducting the business of athletics.
Roughing ASU's out real quick looks like 42% came from non-athletic activities.

I take these numbers with a grain of salt. When so many universities (SBC and otherwise) come out perfectly even on expense/revenues there's obviously plenty of creative accounting.

(06-24-2011 03:20 PM)MG61 Wrote:  Here are football revenues in the Sun Belt by school:

Football Revenue

Florida Intl $6,915,199.00
MTSU $6,638,007.00
Western Kentucky $5,768,244.00
Troy Univ $5,386,426.00
Univ South Alabama $5,177,338.00
Univ North Texas $4,315,701.00
Louisiana – Lafayette $4,210,176.00
Arkansas State Univ $3,760,642.00
Louisiana – Monroe $2,982,373.00
Florida Atlantic $2,280,834.00

The highest revenue-producing schools in the Sun Belt Conference are well below the average for the Mountain West and Conference USA. The bottom two in the Sun Belt aren’t even generating half what the top producers in the conference are bringing in

There’s only a slight shift in order when we look at the biggest spenders on football in the Sun Belt:

Football Expenses
MTSU $6,638,007.00
Florida Intl $6,225,125.00
Western Kentucky $5,768,244.00
Univ South Alabama $5,177,338.00
Troy Univ $5,029,312.00
Florida Atlantic $4,610,870.00
Univ North Texas $4,315,701.00
Louisiana – Lafayette $4,210,176.00
Arkansas State Univ $3,760,642.00
Louisiana – Monroe $2,982,373.00

If you’re already doing the math in your head, you’ve probably figured out now many schools in the Sun Belt are turning a profit on football. Here are net profits

Football Profit
Florida Intl $690,074.00
Troy Univ $357,114.00
Arkansas State Univ $0.00
Louisiana – Lafayette $0.00
Louisiana – Monroe $0.00
MTSU $0.00
Univ North Texas $0.00
Univ South Alabama $0.00
Western Kentucky $0.00
Florida Atlantic -$2,330,036.00

If you’ve been reading BusinessofCollegeSports.com for long, you know what happens when football doesn’t make enough money to help cover the other sports. Generally, what happens is a greater reliance on institutional support. At some schools that means student fees. In fact, the Sun Belt had the second highest average for percent of athletic budget derived from student fees, behind only the Mid-American. Two Sun Belt schools, Florida Atlantic and Florida International, are in the top five out of all BCS schools for percentage of athletic department revenue coming from student fees. Florida International leads all BCS schools at 71% and is #4 in dollar amount at $15.6 million.

You won’t be surprised to find out only one school is reporting a net profit for their athletic department:


Athletic Dept Profit
Florida Atlantic $1,073,745.00
Arkansas State Univ $0.00
Florida Intl $0.00
Louisiana – Lafayette $0.00
Louisiana – Monroe $0.00
MTSU $0.00
Univ North Texas $0.00
Univ South Alabama $0.00
Troy Univ $0.00
Western Kentucky $0.00

As I’ve explained before, showing a profit on these reports to the Department of Education does not mean the athletic department turns an actual profit. For most non-AQ schools, and some AQ schools, they can show this profit only by including funds like student fees and university subsidies. In Florida Atlantic’s case, $8.9 million, or 55%, of their total revenue is from student fees.

Data is July 1, 2009 to June 30, 2010, so we’re talking about the 2009 football season

LINK
http://businessofcollegesports.com/category/sun-belt/

Their is no surprises in these numbers. Said it before, without student fees, most of the SBC would be in deep crap. The two lowest athletic budgets in the SBC are the schools that don't have student fees.

(06-24-2011 10:00 PM)Raider_ATO Wrote:  I take these numbers with a grain of salt. When so many universities (SBC and otherwise) come out perfectly even on expense/revenues there's obviously plenty of creative accounting.

Exactly. These numbers, while interesting to look at, are mostly meaningless. Schools can basically make them look however they want.

I don't think they are manipulating gross revenue but other than that...

(06-24-2011 10:00 PM)Raider_ATO Wrote:  I take these numbers with a grain of salt. When so many universities (SBC and otherwise) come out perfectly even on expense/revenues there's obviously plenty of creative accounting.

Because they transfer enough money from non-athletic business sources to cover the gap.

The reality is that outdside of a handful of atheltic departments with huge football revenues, almost all D-I athletic departments lose more money than they make. And even if football does turn a profit at a few more schools, it is still usually not enough to fund all the other sports.

I think we need to get comfortable with the fact that if you play D-I sports, profits are a bonus and not a neccessity for having a program.

Do we expect University symphony orchestras to generate enough profits from concerts to cover the whole music department budget? Of course not. Do we expect the theatre or dance concert revenues to fund their departments? Of course not. Yet these concerts, plays and performances add vitality to campus and community, and they provide opportunities for students to perform and grow their skills and confidence. Same goes for sports - part of the college experience.

FIU's football program is maturing; we are no longer playing 3 and 4 'body bags' a year. We have a nice balance of home/home's with the likes of UCF, Louisville, Duke, T A&M, etc.

Sure, we rely heavily on student fees to grow the program, but who cares? Our student body has just blown through 42,000 on the way to 60,000 in the next 10 years...it hasn't seemed to hurt the schools popularity (perhaps big time football has helped it...hmm).

Point is, you can be penny-wise and pound-foolish and cry and complain about 'student fees' or you can use this opportunity (i.e. football) to create brand awareness and create seperation from all the super-regional colleges and on-line degree mills that are competing for your students. Guess which way FIU has decided to go?

(06-27-2011 09:19 AM)FIUFan Wrote:  FIU's football program is maturing; we are no longer playing 3 and 4 'body bags' a year. We have a nice balance of home/home's with the likes of UCF, Louisville, Duke, T A&M, etc.

Sure, we rely heavily on student fees to grow the program, but who cares? Our student body has just blown through 42,000 on the way to 60,000 in the next 10 years...it hasn't seemed to hurt the schools popularity (perhaps big time football has helped it...hmm).

Point is, you can be penny-wise and pound-foolish and cry and complain about 'student fees' or you can use this opportunity (i.e. football) to create brand awareness and create seperation from all the super-regional colleges and on-line degree mills that are competing for your students. Guess which way FIU has decided to go?

I think FIU has the best OOC schedule this season. And I don't think there's a close second.

Good work!

(06-27-2011 02:56 PM)AstroCajun Wrote:  

(06-27-2011 09:19 AM)FIUFan Wrote:  FIU's football program is maturing; we are no longer playing 3 and 4 'body bags' a year. We have a nice balance of home/home's with the likes of UCF, Louisville, Duke, T A&M, etc.

Sure, we rely heavily on student fees to grow the program, but who cares? Our student body has just blown through 42,000 on the way to 60,000 in the next 10 years...it hasn't seemed to hurt the schools popularity (perhaps big time football has helped it...hmm).

Point is, you can be penny-wise and pound-foolish and cry and complain about 'student fees' or you can use this opportunity (i.e. football) to create brand awareness and create seperation from all the super-regional colleges and on-line degree mills that are competing for your students. Guess which way FIU has decided to go?

I think FIU has the best OOC schedule this season. And I don't think there's a close second.

Good work!

I would argue MT's is a close second with Memphis and Georgia Tech at home and Purdue and Tennessee away.

(06-27-2011 04:31 PM)MT FAN Wrote:  

(06-27-2011 02:56 PM)AstroCajun Wrote:  [quote='FIUFan' pid='6604990' dateline='1309184380']I think FIU has the best OOC schedule this season. And I don't think there's a close second.
Good work!

I would argue MT's is a close second with Memphis and Georgia Tech at home and Purdue and Tennessee away.

Actually, this years schedule is more like Akron (A), Louisville (A), UCF (H) and Duke (H). Not sure if this changes your opinion of FIU's schedule but it's definately managable.

A good Middle team can beat both Memphis and Purdue.

(06-28-2011 07:36 AM)FIUFan Wrote:  

(06-27-2011 04:31 PM)MT FAN Wrote:  

(06-27-2011 02:56 PM)AstroCajun Wrote:  [quote='FIUFan' pid='6604990' dateline='1309184380']I think FIU has the best OOC schedule this season. And I don't think there's a close second.
Good work!

I would argue MT's is a close second with Memphis and Georgia Tech at home and Purdue and Tennessee away.

Actually, this years schedule is more like Akron (A), Louisville (A), UCF (H) and Duke (H). Not sure if this changes your opinion of FIU's schedule but it's definately managable.

A good Middle team can beat both Memphis and Purdue.

Nope. I like your OOC both home and away. There isn't a single one of those that I wouldn't think you could compete in. I'd say you've really got it set up for a fair shot of a 4-0 with the toughest contest being Louisiville on the road. It really helps that UCF is going to your house though the bloom has been off of both UofL and UCF's rose as of late.

I agree that Middle can win both of those games. And while I think Middle's home OCC may be a tad more attractive, but I think FIU's is on balance better.