ADVERTISEMENT

How Alabama football makes its money

SarasotaHusker

Nebraska Legend
Gold Member
Aug 8, 2003
31,900
16,175
113
http://www.al.com/alabamafootball/i...football_makes_its.html#incart_river_home_pop

The money is flowing.

Alabama reported a school-record $164 million in athletics revenue for the 2015-16 season. That's a 142 percent increase from the $67.7 million the department brought in 11 years earlier.

There's no secret what drives the engine either. A national-championship season pushed the football revenue into nine figures -- a whopping $103.9 million.

So where does it all come from?

Mostly, you.

Ticket sales accounted for the largest piece of the pie, a total of $37.3 million. That's 35.9 percent of the revenue. Media rights made up 20.5 percent at $20.8 million while contributions chipped in another $20.4 million (19.7 percent). That's 75 percent of the income in the three top categories.


The SEC distribution for football came to $7.2 million while bowl revenue was $5.3 million. Game programs and other novelties brought in the smallest slice at $46,093 or 0.04 percent.

Top revenues Total % of total
Ticket sales $37,314,723 35.9%
Contributions $20,442,909 19.7%
Media rights $20,822,783 20.0%
Conf. distrib $7,265,720 7.0%
Royalties $1,395,547 1.3%
Bowl Revenue $5,310,405 5.1%
Total $103,871,075

Big revenue also equals large expenses. And though Alabama made $47.7 million more than it spent on football, it isn't cheap to run the program.

On that side of the ledger, coaching salaries got top billing. The $14 million was down nearly a million from 2015, but pay for 10 coaches still accounted for 24.9 percent of the expenses. Scholarship costs came to $4.6 million (8.1 percent) for the 85 players.

Other notable expenses:

-- Nick Saban's total pay came to $7.7 million, according to the document Alabama files with the NCAA. The total pay for all Alabama coaches in every sport came to $24.9 million.

-- The nine football assistants got $6.2 million of the $8.4 million spent on the 21 assistant coaches for men's teams.

-- Bowl expenses were the second-highest line item after salaries. It came to $8.8 million (15.7 percent) with trips to Dallas for the Cotton Bowl and Phoenix, Arizona for the national title game. That included travel, lodging for the team and spirit groups as well as bonuses for coaches and staff members.

-- There was much discussion about the new unlimited meals rule instituted by the NCAA. The numbers are in as far as costs are concerned. The Alabama football team ate $512,656 worth of meals in 2015-16. That's 61.2 percent of the total Alabama athletics spent under the meals category.

-- Recruiting costs $1.7 million, a healthy jump from $1.3 million the previous year.

-- Medical and insurance fees also went up to $1.6 million from $1.4 million.

A full breakdown of the top expenses for the Alabama football program:

Top expenses
Scholarships $4,577,797 8.1%
Guarantees $3,600,000 6.4%
Coach salary $14,019,693 24.9%
Support staff $2,949,321 5.2%
Severence $299,100 0.5%
Recruiting $1,676,631 3.0%
Team travel $1,882,143 3.3%
Equipment $1,508,530 2.7%
Game expenses $3,831,759 6.8%
Fundraising, marketing $4,528,759 8.1%
Overhead, admin $3,191,634 5.7%
Medical/insurance $1,593,862 2.8%
Meals $512,656 0.9%
Other $2,273,130 4.0%
Bowl expenses $8,806,120 15.7%
Total expenses $56,214,375
Total profit $47,656,700
 
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest posts

ADVERTISEMENT

Go Big.
Get Premium.

Join Rivals to access this premium section.

  • Say your piece in exclusive fan communities.
  • Unlock Premium news from the largest network of experts.
  • Dominate with stats, athlete data, Rivals250 rankings, and more.
Log in or subscribe today Go Back