Alabama Football: Many benefits from a successful sports program

Alabama athletics, particularly Alabama football generates big revenue. Alabama and many other schools also receive significant added benefits to their stature and appeal to future students and alumni.

A couple of months ago al.com reported in the 2015-16 season Alabama athletics made $164 million in revenue, with $103.9 million derived by Alabama football. The full story breaks down all the revenue sources and many of the expenses as well.

Alabama football revenue exceeded expenses by over $47 million. The net revenue created for the University through Alabama football exceeded the total athletic department operating budgets of more than half of all the FBS schools.

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Much attention is given to the dollars generated by the top twenty or so FBS schools with operating budgets over $100 million. What does not get much attention is how valuable athletic programs are to smaller schools, with much smaller budgets.

In 2016, Temple University hired outside consultants to measure the dollar value of media exposure Temple football gained in a 20-8 run of football success. The story was reported by footballscoop.com.

Here are the results, presented by Temple University Sports Industry Research Center director Dr. Jeremy Jordan.

"from broadcasts on ABC and ESPN to local broadcasts in, say, Orlando after a Temple-UCF game — and found Temple University would have to spend $38 million to garner such a reach. “Temple cannot afford to purchase that level of exposure on a national level. It would just be too costly to buy that amount of advertising time,”"

Jordan expanded on how much that $38 million of exposure meant to the Temple brand.

"“Temple University is a brand. When the football team is on television, it’s a way to promote the brand and communicate the mission of the institution and what the institution stands for. It was more than just a game or two. What that meant in terms of the commentary that was being had at the national media level about Temple – its football program, the University, Philadelphia in general – all benefitted because of this.”"

Another example of a small school riding the wave of athletic success and exposure is Gonzaga University. The basketball first school in Spokane, WA has become a national power in men’s basketball. The Zags exploded on the national scene during the1999 NCAA Tournament.

According to data released by the university’s public relations office, and again reported by footballscoop.com, here are the real impacts at Gonzaga from 1999-2017.

Enrollment has grown from 4,061 to 7,572 (86.4 percent growth)
Undergraduate applications have quadrupled from 1,841 to 7,342
Freshman enrollment has spiked from 569 to 1,280 (124.9 percent)
The faculty roster has grown from 279 to 434 (55.5 percent)
The overall university budget has nearly quadrupled from $72.7 million to $283 million
The endowment has grown from $67 million to $212.9 (217.8 percent)
Annual fundraising has grown from $13.4 million to $31.1 million (127.7 percent)
Total donors have grown from 7,006 to 13,261 (a modest 89.3 percent growth)

Probably all of the above categories would have grown without Gonzaga’s success in basketball. It is also plausible to argue that the Zags growth outpaces national averages and does so in major part due to brand enhancement through basketball.

Most schools do not experience similar exposure and revenue boosts through athletics. Yet many do, and in that many are dozens of smaller schools with similar enrollments to Temple and Gonzaga.

College sports is big business. Most of what is written about the dollars associated with that big business paint a negative perception. The benefits of college sports are many, some quantifiable, many others intangible.

A guy by the name of Denny took a gamble many decades ago that building a known football program would grow his university. He took the right gamble and hit the jackpot. That is why his name, along with Paul Bryant’s, is affixed to the stadium for Alabama football.

Next: Nick and Jimbo Do Not Agree!

Could today’s big money bubble in college football someday come crashing down? Maybe. For some smaller schools in lower profile conferences, new broadcast deals have already taken a big drop. No one knows the future but today the typical “haves” and “have-nots” storyline about college athletic finances is not the complete story.

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