All 23 University of Minnesota sports teams generate revenue, but only football, men’s basketball and men’s hockey in the last two years have been profitable, according to reports supplied by the school.
Each sport’s total operating revenue includes but is not limited to: ticket sales, state or other governmental support, NCAA/conference distributions, broadcast rights, program ad concessions sales, parking, licensing and advertisements, and endowment and investment income.
After expenses, football ($32 million) in 2012 and 2013 made nearly twice what men’s hoops earned ($18.6 million) and thrice what men’s puck ($9.5 million) made. The other Gopher programs, however, spent at least twice as much as they reportedly made:
Women’s hockey — $1.6 million in revenues; expenses — $2.4 million
Women’s basketball — $1.2 million in revenues; expenses — $5.1 million
Rowing — $874,000 revenues; expenses — $2.2 million
Women’s track/cross-country — $837,000 revenues; expenses — $2.4 million
Baseball — $767,000 revenues; expenses — $2.2 million
Women’s swimming & diving — $648,000 revenues; expenses — $1.7 million
Women’s gymnastics — $418,000 revenues; expenses — $1.3 million
Wrestling — $550,000 revenues; expenses — $1.8 million
Volleyball — $404,000 revenues; expenses — $2.3 million
Softball — $359,000 revenues; expenses — $1.7 million
Women’s tennis — $307,000 revenues; expenses — $975,000
Men’s swimming & diving — $294,000 revenues; expenses — $1.5 million
Men’s golf — $252,000 revenues; expenses — $1 million
Women’s golf — $232,000 revenues; expenses — $885,000
Soccer — $308,000 revenues; expenses — $1.5 million
Men’s gymnastics — $182,000 revenues; expenses — $1 million
Men’s tennis — $162,000 revenues; expenses — $896,000
Men’s track and field/cross-country — $377,000 revenues; expenses — $2.2 million
To those opponents who profess college sports spend too much and bring in little to show for it, these numbers support their argument. But for those who argue that women’s non-revenue sports (all but basketball and volleyball) fall in this category as loss leaders, their male non-revenue counterparts are just as much ‘losers.’
Finally, in the final analysis, running a Division I sports program is expensive. Based on the aforementioned figures, we now know just how much.
Charles Hallman welcomes reader responses to challman@spokesman-recorder.com
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