BLOG
NCAA Football Teams Made More Money Than Many NFL Teams in 2015 [INFOGRAPHIC]
By Tyler Hakes
Back to the blog
College sports is big business–that should come as no surprise to anyone. With all of the sponsorship, TV deals, and merchandise sales, many of the nation’s biggest schools earn tens of millions of dollars each year. But just how much is being earned? And how much of that is going back into the school’s coffers?
We did an analysis of the reported football income and profits from the 2014-2015 football season and found some pretty staggering facts about just how much is being earned on the business of college ball.
Some key findings:
- The top 100 football programs (by earnings) generated nearly $5.6 billion in combined revenue
- University of Texas (Austin) reported the highest earnings: $121 million
- UT reported that of that $121 million, $91 million was profit–a 75% margin
- Almost $1 million in profit was earned per player on the UT roster
- UT’s $91 million in profit was higher than the 2015 operating income of 25 out of 32 NFL teams
- 22 NCAA teams reported profits higher than the operating income of the lowest-earning NFL team, the Atlanta Falcons
University of Texas Earnings
Raking in the most money of any NCAA team, the Texas Longhorns football team earned a staggering $121 million in revenue and $91 million in profit for the 2014-15 season.
Not only did that put them nearly $25 million ahead of the second-best NCAA team (University of Alabama, by earnings), but it also put them ahead of nearly every NFL team when comparing the profits earned by Texas versus the operating income of the professional teams. (Note: These are not perfect comparisons, but were the closest figures we could find publicly available for all teams.) Only 7 professional teams had a higher operating income than UT’s football profits.
Given UT’s 99-man football team roster, they made almost $1,000,000 in profit for every player on the team. ($924,925.58 per player, to be exact.)
NCAA vs NFL earnings
The Atlanta Falcons had the lowest operating income of all NFL teams in the 2015 season. They reported earnings of $25.4 million. All told, 22 NCAA football programs posted profits in excess of what the Falcons brought in.
Full NCAA Football Revenue Data
| Rank | Team | Revenue (2014-15) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | The University of Texas at Austin | $121,382,436 |
| 2 | The University of Alabama | $97,023,963 |
| 3 | The University of Tennessee-Knoxville | $94,377,857 |
| 4 | University of Michigan-Ann Arbor | $88,251,525 |
| 5 | Auburn University | $86,742,256 |
| 6 | University of Georgia | $86,719,115 |
| 7 | Louisiana State University and Agricultural – Mechanical College | $86,312,831 |
| 8 | University of Notre Dame | $86,125,989 |
| 9 | Ohio State University-Main Campus | $83,547,428 |
| 10 | University of Oklahoma-Norman Campus | $78,737,409 |
| 11 | University of Florida | $74,720,732 |
| 12 | Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus | $71,305,219 |
| 13 | Florida State University | $70,321,194 |
| 14 | University of Washington-Seattle Campus | $66,941,640 |
| 15 | University of Arkansas | $66,179,978 |
| 16 | Texas A – M University-College Station | $62,199,166 |
| 17 | University of Oregon | $60,956,894 |
| 18 | University of Nebraska-Lincoln | $60,621,628 |
| 19 | University of South Carolina-Columbia | $59,768,622 |
| 20 | Michigan State University | $59,227,831 |
| 21 | University of Mississippi | $53,399,653 |
| 22 | University of Iowa | $52,354,781 |
| 23 | Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University | $50,387,116 |
| 24 | Arizona State University-Tempe | $49,016,140 |
| 25 | University of Southern California | $45,886,944 |
| 26 | University of Wisconsin-Madison | $44,797,138 |
| 27 | University of California-Los Angeles | $44,727,001 |
| 28 | Clemson University | $43,959,747 |
| 29 | Oklahoma State University-Main Campus | $43,778,793 |
| 30 | University of California-Berkeley | $43,651,316 |
| 31 | University of Utah | $42,931,079 |
| 32 | Syracuse University | $41,877,234 |
| 33 | Texas Christian University | $41,259,536 |
| 34 | Georgia Institute of Technology-Main Campus | $41,124,340 |
| 35 | North Carolina State University at Raleigh | $39,999,142 |
| 36 | Texas Tech University | $39,266,665 |
| 37 | University of Miami | $38,985,460 |
| 38 | University of Missouri-Columbia | $37,892,973 |
| 39 | Stanford University | $37,519,312 |
| 40 | University of Louisville | $36,383,759 |
| 41 | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill | $36,050,976 |
| 42 | University of Minnesota-Twin Cities | $35,772,983 |
| 43 | Baylor University | $35,575,376 |
| 44 | University of Kentucky | $35,495,890 |
| 45 | Kansas State University | $34,725,916 |
| 46 | University of Pittsburgh-Pittsburgh Campus | $34,089,376 |
| 47 | Iowa State University | $33,074,046 |
| 48 | Duke University | $32,407,399 |
| 49 | Washington State University | $32,004,916 |
| 50 | Northwestern University | $31,664,655 |
| 51 | Mississippi State University | $31,308,423 |
| 52 | Oregon State University | $30,916,950 |
| 53 | University of Maryland-College Park | $30,891,641 |
| 54 | University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign | $30,819,615 |
| 55 | University of Colorado Boulder | $28,313,259 |
| 56 | Indiana University-Bloomington | $27,508,477 |
| 57 | Vanderbilt University | $27,409,392 |
| 58 | Boston College | $27,232,643 |
| 59 | Rutgers University-New Brunswick | $26,903,695 |
| 60 | University of Kansas | $25,986,541 |
| 61 | University of Virginia-Main Campus | $24,551,003 |
| 62 | University of Central Florida | $23,626,498 |
| 63 | University of Arizona | $23,115,960 |
| 64 | West Virginia University | $22,510,492 |
| 65 | Wake Forest University | $20,797,837 |
| 66 | Boise State University | $20,206,989 |
| 67 | Brigham Young University-Provo | $19,902,453 |
| 68 | Purdue University-Main Campus | $17,073,335 |
| 69 | Southern Methodist University | $16,448,366 |
| 70 | University of Tulsa | $15,108,680 |
| 71 | Temple University | $14,247,503 |
| 72 | University of Cincinnati-Main Campus | $13,821,277 |
| 73 | California State University-Fresno | $13,552,228 |
| 74 | University of Memphis | $13,376,999 |
| 75 | Rice University | $13,010,450 |
| 76 | Colorado State University-Fort Collins | $13,002,269 |
| 77 | San Diego State University | $12,459,848 |
| 78 | East Carolina University | $12,299,240 |
| 79 | University of Houston | $11,306,212 |
| 80 | University of Wyoming | $11,008,232 |
| 81 | University of Hawaii at Manoa | $10,716,179 |
| 82 | University of South Florida-Main Campus | $10,694,740 |
| 83 | The University of Texas at El Paso | $10,400,483 |
| 84 | College of William and Mary | $9,910,938 |
| 85 | Liberty University | $9,855,128 |
| 86 | Florida International University | $9,157,416 |
| 87 | Middle Tennessee State University | $9,054,880 |
| 88 | Marshall University | $9,038,549 |
| 89 | Tulane University of Louisiana | $8,980,759 |
| 90 | University of Nevada-Las Vegas | $8,954,365 |
| 91 | The University of Montana | $8,813,683 |
| 92 | Old Dominion University | $8,709,737 |
| 93 | The University of Texas at San Antonio | $8,564,222 |
| 94 | University of South Alabama | $8,548,788 |
| 95 | University of North Texas | $8,348,300 |
| 96 | University of Connecticut | $8,308,332 |
| 97 | Northern Illinois University | $8,268,043 |
| 98 | University of Nevada-Reno | $8,252,434 |
| 99 | James Madison University | $8,239,316 |
| 100 | Miami University-Oxford | $8,172,656 |
Full NCAA Football Profit Data
| Rank | School | Profit (2014-15) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | The University of Texas at Austin | $91,567,632 |
| 2 | The University of Tennessee-Knoxville | $69,866,825 |
| 3 | University of Georgia | $60,564,780 |
| 4 | Louisiana State University and Agricultural – Mechanical College | $57,673,168 |
| 5 | University of Michigan-Ann Arbor | $56,370,978 |
| 6 | University of Notre Dame | $54,253,739 |
| 7 | Ohio State University-Main Campus | $50,958,935 |
| 8 | University of Oklahoma-Norman Campus | $48,420,800 |
| 9 | Auburn University | $46,664,904 |
| 10 | The University of Alabama | $45,979,671 |
| 11 | University of Oregon | $40,277,558 |
| 12 | Florida State University | $39,021,426 |
| 13 | University of Washington-Seattle Campus | $37,805,071 |
| 14 | University of Florida | $37,247,529 |
| 15 | Texas A – M University-College Station | $36,528,382 |
| 16 | Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus | $36,158,596 |
| 17 | University of Arkansas | $35,384,656 |
| 18 | Michigan State University | $31,533,464 |
| 19 | University of Nebraska-Lincoln | $31,442,136 |
| 20 | University of South Carolina-Columbia | $28,411,407 |
| 21 | University of Mississippi | $28,235,292 |
| 22 | University of Iowa | $26,872,482 |
| 23 | Oklahoma State University-Main Campus | $24,255,512 |
| 24 | Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University | $23,568,241 |
| 25 | University of Utah | $23,377,424 |
| 26 | North Carolina State University at Raleigh | $22,165,934 |
| 27 | Syracuse University | $22,067,934 |
| 28 | University of California-Berkeley | $21,848,446 |
| 29 | Georgia Institute of Technology-Main Campus | $21,441,395 |
| 30 | Arizona State University-Tempe | $20,932,756 |
| 31 | Clemson University | $19,767,973 |
| 32 | Texas Tech University | $18,310,736 |
| 33 | University of Wisconsin-Madison | $18,153,345 |
| 34 | University of California-Los Angeles | $17,868,209 |
| 35 | Kansas State University | $17,758,806 |
| 36 | University of Louisville | $17,729,229 |
| 37 | Iowa State University | $17,653,463 |
| 38 | Stanford University | $17,606,901 |
| 39 | University of Kentucky | $16,462,047 |
| 40 | Oregon State University | $16,226,236 |
| 41 | Washington State University | $15,366,541 |
| 42 | University of Southern California | $15,311,704 |
| 43 | University of Maryland-College Park | $14,740,252 |
| 44 | University of Missouri-Columbia | $14,574,940 |
| 45 | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill | $14,309,341 |
| 46 | Mississippi State University | $14,094,902 |
| 47 | University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign | $12,482,706 |
| 48 | University of Miami | $12,090,804 |
| 49 | University of Pittsburgh-Pittsburgh Campus | $11,774,800 |
| 50 | Boise State University | $11,367,250 |
| 51 | University of Colorado Boulder | $11,274,066 |
| 52 | Northwestern University | $10,780,397 |
| 53 | Indiana University-Bloomington | $9,497,550 |
| 54 | Duke University | $9,491,465 |
| 55 | University of Minnesota-Twin Cities | $9,480,768 |
| 56 | Texas Christian University | $7,508,323 |
| 57 | Baylor University | $7,141,661 |
| 58 | Rutgers University-New Brunswick | $6,745,502 |
| 59 | University of Virginia-Main Campus | $6,467,620 |
| 60 | University of Central Florida | $5,575,195 |
| 61 | Boston College | $5,378,678 |
| 62 | Wake Forest University | $5,357,133 |
| 63 | Brigham Young University-Provo | $5,268,089 |
| 64 | University of Kansas | $5,192,975 |
| 65 | West Virginia University | $5,142,723 |
| 66 | The University of Montana | $3,659,628 |
| 67 | Vanderbilt University | $3,272,867 |
| 68 | University of North Texas | $3,235,791 |
| 69 | University of Wyoming | $2,947,183 |
| 70 | University of Arizona | $2,693,140 |
| 71 | The University of Texas at El Paso | $2,644,313 |
| 72 | California State University-Fresno | $2,571,881 |
| 73 | Montana State University | $2,064,570 |
| 74 | Purdue University-Main Campus | $1,475,139 |
| 75 | Murray State University | $1,173,804 |
| 76 | University of Nevada-Reno | $1,164,478 |
| 77 | Marshall University | $1,126,483 |
| 78 | East Carolina University | $943,946 |
| 79 | Valdosta State University | $784,898 |
| 80 | Charleston Southern University | $730,073 |
| 81 | Southern Utah University | $695,945 |
| 82 | Morgan State University | $558,062 |
| 83 | Citadel Military College of South Carolina | $534,622 |
| 84 | Alabama A – M University | $509,450 |
| 85 | Indiana State University | $474,361 |
| 86 | Furman University | $435,756 |
| 87 | Southern University and A – M College | $385,160 |
| 88 | Grambling State University | $381,816 |
| 89 | Gardner-Webb University | $358,857 |
| 90 | Grand Valley State University | $344,727 |
| 91 | University of Nebraska at Kearney | $303,225 |
| 92 | Kutztown University of Pennsylvania | $297,487 |
| 93 | Azusa Pacific University | $293,089 |
| 94 | Houston Baptist University | $276,577 |
| 95 | Miles College | $266,118 |
| 96 | Ohio University-Main Campus | $265,584 |
| 97 | Fort Valley State University | $252,659 |
| 98 | Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania | $251,089 |
| 99 | Colorado State University-Pueblo | $218,517 |
| 100 | Pittsburg State University | $216,506 |
Note: Some schools that appear on the revenue list may not appear on profits and vice-versa based on their reported revenue vs profit.
NCAA football revenue and profits data from national IPEDS database.
NFL operating income data from Forbes.
Share this article:
