Alabama's Profit and Loss by Sport

[Perd Hapley]

On the one hand, these numbers are patently absurd.

On the other, what were the revenue numbers for the Mathematics Department? How about the Physical Plant? Universities aren't businesses that need to show a healthy P&L statement.

But, for those departments, they’d be showing a lot more impressive returns than athletics, quite possibly.

Thought experiment….the Math Department has 20 professors each making an average compensation of $120k per year, and a Dean making $200,000. That’s $2.6 million per year…..which works out to about $1 million per full term semester (Spring / Fall). Let’s say there are 6,000 students taking a total of 24,000 credit hrs of Math in a given semester….average of 4 hrs per student. Average credit hrs for a student in a full term semester is what, 15 hrs? So, that’s a full credit hour load for about 1,600 students.

Google says average public school in-state tuition / room / board / fees per semester is $13,000, and the same is $22,500 for out of state. Let’s split difference and call it $18,000 in revenue per full term student per semester. Multiply it out, $28.8 million in revenue. Let’s adjust slightly for scholarships and say the average student pays 80% of that tuition / room / board. That brings us to $23 million. Labor cost of the teaching - $2.6 million. Profit - over $20 million.

Seems like the Math Department does pretty damn good, to me.

 

[DesotoCountyDawg]

On the one hand, these numbers are patently absurd.

On the other, what were the revenue numbers for the Mathematics Department? How about the Physical Plant? Universities aren't businesses that need to show a healthy P&L statement.

That’s poorly worded by the tweet and the OP. A state university is a non profit and doesn’t have a “P&L”, it’s typically called a Statement of Activities. The “profit” is merely an asset.

 

[onewoof]

That’s poorly worded by the tweet and the OP. A state university is a non profit and doesn’t have a “P&L”, it’s typically called a Statement of Activities. The “profit” is merely an asset.

And this is the "official" report that clearly is not inclusive of other money paid to players that isn't reported.

 

[Leeshouldveflanked]

Dan Mullen built the New Dude

 

[ll Martain ll]

Are you saying that Football at SEC schools is not responsible for the television revenue?

I seriously doubt that the NBA, MLB, or NFL could break even without television money?

They could certainly make money, but it would be a lot smaller amounts, and the amount athletes and coaches get paid would have to come back down to earth, like salaries were before the 80s/90s

 

[Willow Grove Dawg]

I’m not following. That’d be $246 per ticket per game. That’s an asinine cost….as an average. May be market value for club level or skybox. But it’s way, way more than what the average should be.

They could certainly make money, but it would be a lot smaller amounts, and the amount athletes and coaches get paid would have to come back down to earth, like salaries were before the 80s/90s

Television revenue is likewise the reason that top college players are making so much in NIL

 

[MaroonOldCrow]

I saw the $3+ MILLION deficit in women's rowing and thought 'how the hell do you even spend $1 MILLION on rowing much less lose $3 MILLION? Well, I found out that there are 72 (YES 72 women) on the rowing team! How the 17 do you justify that?

Does the name Lori Loughlin ring a bell?

 

[Maroon13]

Last time I looked, Mississippi State University (as a whole) had gross revenue of approximately $696 million. (Where is my kids revenue share?) Of which $125 was athletics.

I can't find a total gross revenue number for Alabama. I did find their research awards alone were more than their athletic revenue. Also they've raised $1.8 billion in their capital campaign. That is for all projects on campus. Alabama the school is as successful or more so than their athletics.