Written by Ray Vann, October 18, 2016, at 7:00 p.m.
It shouldn’t surprise anyone to learn that college athletics is a money making machine, but what might be a bit more surprising to learn is that the top ten colleges in the country make more than a billion dollars combined. And this completely leaves out the next 14 colleges that all make over a $100M from their sports teams alone. That’s four more schools that made that much in 2015, and a big jump from the 13 that were in the $100M+ club in 2014.
Using information put together from USA Today and the US Department of Education, here is a look at the top ten most profitable sports programs in the nation.
Top 10 Colleges That Make the Most from Their Athletic Programs
10. Penn State – $125.7 M
The curse of Joe Paterno has certainly not seen an impact on the revenue stream over at Penn State, with a 17.9 percent increase over the past five years and nearly $30M in donations last year alone. The team might not be making as much as some of its southern rivals, but the $125M+ income is certainly nothing to sneeze at and is certainly responsible for keeping the Nittany Lions competitive year in and year out.
9. Tennessee – $126.6M
While a football revenue of 73.4M is certainly impressive, Tennessee stands out from the others because of its other big sport: Women’s Basketball. The Lady Vols are responsible for netting the White and Orange more than five and a half million dollars on average over the past three years, nearly five times as much as similar programs in other top ten revenue making colleges.
8. Oklahoma – $134.3M
Oklahoma is home to more sports than just basketball and football, with strong baseball, softball and soccer teams to its name, but it is really the football team that brings in the cash, accounting for more than half of the total revenue. That said, however, the other sports don’t slack, with men’s basketball netting an additional near $10M, and other sports pulling their own weight as well.
7. LSU – $138.6M
LSU, like many of its comrades in the SEC, is a sports school through and through. Campus pride is lived vicariously through the tigers in their many incarnations, and so it should shock noone that this school is able to draw in as much as it does from its athletics programs. LSU has also seen a rise of nearly 25% in income over the last five years, and continues to see an upward trend in recent years, meaning that we can expect to continue to see bigger and better things coming out of Baton Rouge in the future.
6. Florida – $147.1M
Florida alumni are certainly a generous bunch, donating more than 1/3 of the sports revenue back to their alma mater. This should not take away from the strength of their teams, however, and with an %18.7 increase from last year the Gators are looking to put the money into a number of new additions that will help get their team back to the top of the heap next season.
5. Alabama – $148.9M
The only thing that might surprise readers about Alabama being on this list is that it didn’t come in at number one. The football powerhouse for the last several years, Alabama is the school that comes to mind when most think of a college football money maker. The football team alone makes more money than the vast majority of schools entire programs, and brings in a revenue only a few million short of all of the sports programs combined over at UCLA, which has an impressive revenue stream of its own.
4. Michigan – $152.5M
Michigan has seen one of the most dramatic increases in sports revenue of any team, increasing their take by more than 42 percent of the last five years. With a strong program in a number of athletic fields, a good portion of their income also comes from licensing rights, netting the Wolverines a cool $58.1M on top of what they draw in from donations and their other teams.
3. Ohio State – $167.2M
Ohio State routinely ranks among the very best for sports colleges in the country, easily proving itself a match for even the strongest of the athletics programs in the south. With this strength in mind, it is little surprise that the school is able to draw in so much many every year. A strong basketball team also gives it the edge over a number of others, supplementing the $70.2M football revenue with just over $21M of its own.
2. Texas – $183.5M
Some say that in Texas football is a way of life, and a look at the numbers might prove this fact. With a revenue from their football program alone greater than most SEC schools entire programs, it is little wonder to see why the Longhorns continue to dominate both their rivals on the field and the lawns and trucks around their home state.
1. Texas A&M – $192.6M
At the top of the heap, A&M might not make as much from their football team as their cross-state rival, or even as much as many of the other teams on this list. Their secret to success comes in the form of donations, raking in almost a $100M every year from the generosity of students and alumni. And these donations don’t go to waste, with A&M routinely finishing as one of the better schools in the country and ranked sixth on both AP and Coaches Polls as of this article.