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I became a big fan of
Catholic college basketball long before most of you were born – a passion which has lasted more than 60 years - and became a big fan of the Big East Conference in 2013 (when the football schools left). In fact, since 2013, I have liked the Big East far more than the Atlantic 10 or any of the Power Five conference. Consequently, anyone who thinks that I have any animosity toward the Big East is dead wrong. Every basketball season I root for the Big East to be the #1 conference in the country, and most years, the Big East finishes ahead of some of the P5 conferences in basketball.
Having said that, I find it perplexing that some Big East fans who frequent this board continue to believe that some or any of the P5 schools will want to join the Big East. I can assure that they don’t - for two important reasons:
football revenue and
the prestige of being a member of a P5 conference.
Approximate Payouts per School: Power Five Conference Schools in 2020 Conference • Total per School • 80% to Football • 20% to Basketball
► Big Ten • $54,300,000 • $43,440,000 • $10,860,000
► SEC • $45,500,000 • $36,400,000 • $9,100,000
► Big 12 • $39,000,000 • $31,200,000 • $7,800,000
► Pac-12 • $35,000,000 • $28,000,000 • $7,000,000
► ACC • $35,000,000 • $28,000,000 • $7,000,000
On August 5, 2021 Xudash wrote:
Additions [to the Big East] have to make sense economically, and they must want to be a part of our conference.
This is perhaps the most logical sentence Xudash has ever posted on HLOH, and I completely agree with it.
I have not researched the athletic department finances of all of the Power Five Conference schools, but
it is unlikely that ANY of them lose money on football, because of the revenue generated by it. The conferences whose teams lose money on scholarshipped football would be the American Conference teams (which is why UConn left), and probably all other non-P5 schools.
If it is accepted that none of the Power Five schools are going to give up big-time football, the President of the Big East schools will have to look elsewhere if expansion is contemplated. So the Big East’s options are likely limited to school in the
Atlantic 10 or
American Athletic Conference.
American Athletic ConferenceInstitution • Location • Founded • Enrolment
University of Central Florida • Orlando, Florida • 1963 • 68,571
University of Cincinnati • Cincinnati, Ohio • 1819 • 45,949
East Carolina University • Greenville, North Carolina • 1907 • 28,718
University of Houston • Houston, Texas • 1927 • 46,324
University of Memphis • Memphis, Tennessee • 1912 • 21,458
University of South Florida • Tampa, Florida • 1956 • 50,830
Southern Methodist University • Dallas, Texas • 1911 • 11,649
Temple University • Philadelphia, Pennsylvania • 1884 • 39,755
Tulane University • New Orleans, Louisiana • 1834 • 11,722
University of Tulsa • Tulsa, Oklahoma • 1894 • 3,343
Wichita State University • Wichita, Kansas • 1895 • 15,778
Does Football Fund Other Sports At College Level - Kristi Dosh, Attorney, Forbes - May 5, 2011
University of Central Florida • Revenue • Expense • Profit
Football • $15,173,200 • $8,507,856 • $6,665,344
Men’s Basketball • $2,279,998 • $2,134,978 • $145,020
Women’s Basketball • $416,214 • $1,370,168 • -$953,954
Other Sports – Men’s • $805,958 • $1,978,860 • -$1,172,902
Other Sports – Women’s • $1,698,109 • $4,737,880 • -$3,039,771
Athletic Department Net Profit: $1,643,737.00
As you can see, UCF turns a profit when it comes to strictly viewing team revenues and expenses thanks to profits from football and men’s basketball. This is before you add in their $17.5 million in student fees. However, it’s also before you add in costs like coaches salaries ($5.9m), recruiting ($559k), gameday operating expenses ($3.6m) and student aid ($5.7m). With those expenses included, it takes student fees, alumni contributions and other revenue from sources like licensing and advertising to allow UCF to turn an overall profit in the athletic department.
Note that the figures in the table above are 10 years old, and that UCF now has an enrolment of 68,000+, so the amounts have obviously changed significantly. UCF may still be turning a profit in football and basketball, but it is highly unlikely that most AAC school are doing so in 2021. There may be a number of AAC schools that are losing money on football now, but getting rid of a scholarshipped football program is a difficult and irreversible choice for any university.
The biggest disadvantage the Big East has in their next TV Rights contract negotiations is that ESPN is very unlikely to be interested because of their other, bigger TV Rights contracts with Power Five conferences. While it may be entertaining to fantasize about adding P5 schools to the Big East, the truth is that it simply will not happen.
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