North by Northwestern

From ticket sales to corporate sponsorships, college football is a multi-billion dollar industry. With 35 bowl games throwing around millions of that sum, how does Northwestern get a piece of the pie?
 Northwestern closely guards its athletic department’s financial figures, but an investigation into bowl payouts begins to reveal how much revenue football generates for the university.

Northwestern’s appearance in the Meineke Car Care Bowl of Texas marked the school’s fourth straight trip to a bowl.  However, the team’s recent success does not mean more money for the school as the Big Ten follows an equal revenue sharing policy.

Under the equal revenue sharing arrangement, each Big Ten school – except Nebraska which is not yet a full member – receives an equal share of money that the conference makes through profit-generators such as bowl games.  This means that Indiana, which finished the season 1-11, receives as much a share as Wisconsin, which brought home millions from the Rose Bowl.

This year’s bowl paid $1.7 million to Northwestern.  In addition, the amateur student-athletes received a television and clothes as gifts.

This is an increase from the 2010 TicketCity Bowl’s purse of $1.2 million, but it is less than the Outback Bowl’s $3.1 million a year prior, and the Valero Alamo Bowl’s $2.225 million in 2008.

While several bowls pay teams unevenly, most split the pot 50/50 between the competing schools.  Once the purse is set, each Big Ten team covers its travel expenses from this money and the rest of the payout goes to the Big Ten.

According to pennlive.com, the three Big Ten teams with the lowest paying bowls used their entire payouts to cover travel expenses.  While Northwestern used an estimated $1.5 million of its $1.7 million and provided private jets for its team, band and other personnel, Illinois had to cut back its entourage with only a $750,000 payout from its bowl.

At this point, the Big Ten keeps a percentage of the total bowl earnings and the rest is divided among the teams.  Because the Big Ten will not disclose the size of Nebraska’s portion, the equal portion going to the rest of the schools is unclear.

The conference was guaranteed seven non-BCS bowls and the Rose Bowl at the beginning of the year, and 10 of 12 Big Ten teams ended up playing in the postseason.  According to a conference report, the seven guaranteed bowls that were non-BCS had combined purses of $18.05 million.

While numbers varied, the most reported numbers for the other three games were $750,000 for Illinois in the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl, $6.1 million for Michigan in the Allstate Sugar Bowl, and $22.3 million for Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl.

Together, these 10 bowls cashed in on approximately $47.2 million in revenue from payouts alone.  After travel expenses, the conference’s cut and Nebraska’s smaller cut were removed, the remaining 11 Big Ten schools each received an equal share.
 
In addition, each school receives a part of the Big Ten Network’s profits.  According to stltoday.com, each Big Ten school brings in over $20 million per year from the conference and the television station, likely making the Big Ten the richest conference in college sports.

Add that to ticket sales and sponsorships for individual schools, and Northwestern football is quite a lucrative enterprise.  While the school will not release financial information concerning athletics, estimates put the total revenue from ticket sales above $7 million with an attendance of over 200,000 for this past season.

Money from the breadwinners – namely football and men’s basketball – goes to cover the expenses incurred by the school’s other sports programs.  Data is not made public, but the university likely loses money every year due to its athletic department.

As a private institution, Northwestern clings to its right to not talk like a miser clings to his gold.  With President Barack Obama threatening to cut funding to private schools such as Northwestern that are in a tuition arms race, Northwestern might one day be forced to disclose its financial information as the government reviews its finances and questionable non-profit status.

Until that day, the NCAA will continue to generate billions of dollars and push an unknown amount toward Evanston.