Non Revenue Generating Sports

[Ope3]

They should be getting money from BTN too. Although I'm sure the profits were better before BTN existed and we had the FSN deal.

They should, but I would guess any profit there goes into the larger distribution spread out amongst the rest of the Big 10 teams, whether they have hockey or not.

I am pretty sure Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan St & Michigan all took a significant haircut for losing local TV rights to Men's Hockey.

 

[MplsGopher]

Volleyball is nowhere near close to profitable.

Link?

 

[Ope3]

Link?

Post #24.

 

[Word]

They should, but I would guess any profit there goes into the larger distribution spread out amongst the rest of the Big 10 teams, whether they have hockey or not.

I am pretty sure Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan St & Michigan all took a significant haircut for losing local TV rights to Men's Hockey.

Yeah and I think all that money got lumped mostly into football revenue, which makes it hard to track how much revenue each of the other sports is generating via TV.

 

[Iceland12]

Here is a listing of the Top 500 most profitable College Sports. At least by this site. If it doesn't give you the Top 500 right away there is a dropbox were you can extend the number to that. Some surprises on here and no, don't know their methodology. Gotta go down to 62 to find a program that isn't football or basketball.

Cue the "it's not right because it doesn't say what I want it to say!"

Rankings | Most profitable college sports programs

Want to know the best colleges for 2025? College Raptor ranks colleges in over 20 different categories. Click here to explore our rankings!

www.collegeraptor.com

 

[GopherRock]

IIRC, the closest any sport at the U outside of FB/MBB/MHK has gotten to profitability is women's basketball during the early 2000s, when they were regularly drawing 12K+ to Williams Arena.

 

[Ope3]

IIRC, the closest any sport at the U outside of FB/MBB/MHK has gotten to profitability is women's basketball during the early 2000s, when they were regularly drawing 12K+ to Williams Arena.

It was still losing in the neighborhood of $1M at the time Whalen was playing, from what I remember.

Still that was a much better than the $3.5M loss from when Whalen was coaching.

 

[Iceland12]

IIRC, the closest any sport at the U outside of FB/MBB/MHK has gotten to profitability is women's basketball during the early 2000s, when they were regularly drawing 12K+ to Williams Arena.

Problem is you have to add donations to a particular program to their overall revenue. That's all plus money too. Guessing that's why some golf, tennis, softball and men's hockey outside of the 10-12 that are profitable on their own get on the list.

Think that if Brenda Oldfield didn't have marriage trouble that made her leave the state, Women's Basketball would have become profitable and maybe it was the year after she left. Doubt it has been since then.

Oh and at the U, until very, very recently, no team got any of the parking revenue and only a share of concessions. Very stupid policy indeed.

 

[xyz1]

Men's hockey at the U was routinely profitable, to the tune of between $1 and $2 million a year, until the downturn in revenues that started around 7-8 years ago, and that was caused by declining fortunes on the ice, the effects of the conference shakeup and how it alienated fans, and absolutely ridiculous ticket price increases by Teague that completely misread the market.

According to this athletic department audit (https://gophersports.com/documents/2023/1/18/FY22_NCAA_Online_Report_-_FINAL_-_01.13.23.pdf) the men's hockey team ran a deficit in fiscal year 2022, which I think is attributable in part to the cost of arena renovations which started then and finished up last summer.

 

[Out State Gopher]

It was still losing in the neighborhood of $1M at the time Whalen was playing, from what I remember.

Still that was a much better than the $3.5M loss from when Whalen was coaching.

The 3.5 million dollar loss could have been used for Football assistants salaries, NIL and or lowering of college tuition. Throwing good money down a hole makes no sense. If a program can not generate the funding thru revenue or fundraising then like Mr. Wonderful says "take it behind the barn and shoot it". If non generating sports went away would anyone notice or care?

 

[proudgopher]

The new BIG TV contract yields over $1 billion per year. The U's slice is $70-90M/year. That's huge considering the U's AD budget was around $120-130M the last time I checked. Depending on the most recent numbers, that's about 70% of your costs being covered before you sell one ticket. What a deal!!

 

[Ope3]

The 3.5 million dollar loss could have been used for Football assistants salaries, NIL and or lowering of college tuition. Throwing good money down a hole makes no sense. If a program can not generate the funding thru revenue or fundraising then like Mr. Wonderful says "take it behind the barn and shoot it". If non generating sports went away would anyone notice or care?

It could have not been used for NIL in 2019 (which the is the $3.5M figure I was quoting from post #24 in post #37) for two very obvious reasons:

- Universities can not directly provide NIL funds to their athletes
- NIL was not approved until 2021.

 

[Dave H]

The 3.5 million dollar loss could have been used for Football assistants salaries, NIL and or lowering of college tuition. Throwing good money down a hole makes no sense. If a program can not generate the funding thru revenue or fundraising then like Mr. Wonderful says "take it behind the barn and shoot it". If non generating sports went away would anyone notice or care?

Yeah how dare women get to play sports...

You understand the U of M doesn't exist to support the football team right?

 

[Word]

Yeah how dare women get to play sports...

You understand the U of M doesn't exist to support the football team right?

The more Out State posts and starts threads, the more he is looking like a troll...

 

[SHGopher]

Nationally, women's NCAA Basketball is red hot. Ratings for the women's tournament were better than the men tournament. Some of that is the Caitlin Clark effect.

ESPN and NCAA just last week announced a new deal that greatly increases revenue for women's NCAA basketball. It was not as much as many wanted but still a large boost. No idea how that money impacts Minnesota. This sport is strong and growing.

The WNBA is a lost cause. The NBA will subsidize that indefinitely. I think it's down to 6 teams now. College ball is much better.

Believe it or not, Minnesota is near the top of the nation for girls youth participating in basketball. Basketball for youth girls is huge here. It is major status.

And 14,000 girls play hockey in the state of Minnesota. The state of Minnesota has 6 Division I women's hockey teams and several more Division III teams! That sport is expensive due to the rinks but is permanently entrenched in this state.

I am guessing that Spirit Squad (dance and cheer) receives a large number of scholarships for women, although I am not certain. That is U of Minnesota's dominating superpower sport.

The softball team just hauled in a terrific recruiting class, I read.

I think a next big thing is soccer. That is a global phenomenon.

For the men, obviously football, basketball, and hockey are the big ones. Football requires a lot of scholarships.

And then universities subsidize both men and women other sports. Like track. What those are varies from school to school. Some schools have sports like fencing, cricket, or Nordic ski that Minnesota does not have.

Lacrosse is an emerging sport we could see in the future.

 

[Dave H]

The more Out State posts and starts threads, the more he is looking like a troll...

I get a stench of PBU...

 

[DinkytownDelight]

Volleyball is nowhere near close to profitable.

In the Big Ten (and Minnesota) I bet it's a lot closer than you think!

 

[Out State Gopher]

Yeah how dare women get to play sports...

You understand the U of M doesn't exist to support the football team right?

Woman can play sports I am not advocating against women. What happens to women's sports when trans are on the team thus eliminating scholarships, places & opportunities for women. It is happening today in high school, college & pros. Males & females are different. If you don't know the definition of a women then you too can be on the Supreme court. How will Title IX be changed?

 

[Iceland12]

Woman can play sports I am not advocating against women. What happens to women's sports when trans are on the team thus eliminating scholarships, places & opportunities for women. It is happening today in high school, college & pros. Males & females are different. If you don't know the definition of a women then you too can be on the Supreme court. How will Title IX be changed?

"Please get angry. PLEASE!! Look I threw trans, gender definition, the Supreme Court AND Tiltle IX in there! See, I'm NOT a troll!! I just a FCS refugee from the Politics Board"

 

[Out State Gopher]

"Please get angry. PLEASE!! Look I through trans, gender definition, the Supreme Court AND Tiltle IX in there! See, I'm NOT a troll!! I just a FCS refugee from the Politics Board"

No need to get angry. It's happening today affecting women's sports. How will the NCAA, colleges, high schools and pros address this change. Title IX will be affected, the question is how? This is regarding sports not politics.

 

[rowdaboat]

My concern would be if football gets its own commissioner and classification as a distinct sport with salaries that it would no longer count towards title 9 quota and now there's an 85 person imbalance where schools either add minor men's sports like wrestling field hockey track soccer or cut larger women's sports like vb softball soccer

 

[Ope3]

In the Big Ten (and Minnesota) I bet it's a lot closer than you think!

No, it's not. Per the link in Post #24 Volleyball took in approximately $700K in revenue with $3.4M in expenses.

I don't think they have made up much of the $2.4M shortfall in the past 5 years. If it's now only a $2M deficit that would be a tremendous achievement.

 

[Ope3]

The more Out State posts and starts threads, the more he is looking like a troll...

Ya think?!?

 

[Iceland12]

No need to get angry. It's happening today affecting women's sports. How will the NCAA, colleges, high schools and pros address this change. Title IX will be affected, the question is how? This is regarding sports not politics.

Wasn't angry. Those were laughing emojis. I was laughing at your lame attempt to get people angry.

 

[Whytetale]

Woman can play sports I am not advocating against women. What happens to women's sports when trans are on the team thus eliminating scholarships, places & opportunities for women. It is happening today in high school, college & pros. Males & females are different. If you don't know the definition of a women then you too can be on the Supreme court. How will Title IX be changed?

Yeah, that's the problem the thousands of Trans moving in and taking over women's sports. LOL!

 

[Hates Monikers]

Woman can play sports I am not advocating against women. What happens to women's sports when trans are on the team thus eliminating scholarships, places & opportunities for women. It is happening today in high school, college & pros. Males & females are different. If you don't know the definition of a women then you too can be on the Supreme court. How will Title IX be changed?

I keep hearing people talk about this. You sound very informed; maybe you can answer a question I've never heard answered: How many trans individuals are receiving a scholarship to play a women's sport? (Penn doesn't give athletic scholarships.) To hear some voice their concerns, you'd think there are hundreds, but I've never seen an actual number with evidence.

You also say it's happening today in the pros. Who are they?

 

[GopherOhana]

Here is a listing of the Top 500 most profitable College Sports. At least by this site. If it doesn't give you the Top 500 right away there is a dropbox were you can extend the number to that. Some surprises on here and no, don't know their methodology. Gotta go down to 62 to find a program that isn't football or basketball.

Cue the "it's not right because it doesn't say what I want it to say!"

Rankings | Most profitable college sports programs

Want to know the best colleges for 2025? College Raptor ranks colleges in over 20 different categories. Click here to explore our rankings!

www.collegeraptor.com

so WVU Rifle brings in a profit of $2.67MM. is that what this list says?

 

[Iceland12]

so WVU Rifle brings in a profit of $2.67MM. is that what this list says?

If that's what you read it did. Apparently "rifle sports" are big deal out there.They actually get/got big donations to get them there. Had to look it up last time somebody brought a *(*&%*%^$%# thread like this up.

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia University graduates and supporters, the Hayhurst family, have contributed a major gift of $1 million to the WVU rifle program.

The donation will name the head rifle coaching position in perpetuity. Additionally, this gift will go to assist the rifle team’s greatest needs.

Major donation boosts Mountaineer rifle program - WV MetroNews

Hayhurst family donates $1 Million, earmarked specifically for WVU Rifle Team

wvmetronews.com

Rifle

The official Rifle page for the West Virginia University Mountaineers

wvusports.com

 

[Taji34]

Here's the thing:

lot of these sports are relatively very cheap. Track and field? If you've got a nice stadium, which we just built a brand new one, then your costs are almost nothing. Shoes, mainly.

You just need a good training facility and you're set.

Same exact thing with swiming & diving. We already have a top notch Aquatic Center and that's not changing. So it only costs you ... swim suits, caps, goggles, at that point. Peanuts.


BUT, this mainly makes sense if conferences for those sports are regional. Now suddenly you've got the track and field team at Stanford going to the Atlantic Coast to have track meets.

The swim team at UCLA going to Rutgers for a swim meet.

Because of football.

F'ing stupid

You have absolutely no idea what you're talking about, and it shows. So called "Olympic sports" largely not regional in how they compete. There might be a Conference Championship at the end of the season, and a Conference Champion may be crowned each year, but they are not competing head to head throughout the season like non-olympic sports do.

For example, here is the Men's Track and Field Schedule for this year:

Mar 2, Longhorn Invite (Outdoor), Austin, TX
Mar 15, Hurricane Invite, Coral Gables, FL
Mar 22, Clyde Hart Classic, Waco, TX
Mar 28, Raleigh Relays, Raleigh, NC
Apr 5, 44 Farms Team Invite, College Station, TX
Apr 5, Triton Classic, La Jolla, CA
Apr 6, Hamline Invite, St. Paul, MN
Apr 13, Bethel Invite, St. Paul, MN
Apr 17, Running On Hope Invite, Minneapolis, MN
Apr 18, Mt. SAC Relays/Brian Clay Invite, Torrance, CA
Apr 20, Alumni Gold, Baton Rouge, LA
Apr 20, Holst Invite, St. Paul, MN
Apr 24, Gary Wilson Invitational, Minneapolis, MN
Apr 25, Macalester College 5000m Invite, St. Paul, MN
Apr 25, Drake Relays, Des Moines, IA
Apr 27, Desert Heat , Tucson, AZ
Apr 27, Rider/Bolstorff Invite, St. Paul, MN
May 10, Big Ten Outdoor Championships, Ann Arbor, MI
May 22, NCAA West Regional, Fayetteville, AR
Jun 5, NCAA Outdoor Championships, Eugene, OR

So that's trips to Texas, Florida, North Carolina, California, Louisiana, Iowa, Arizona, Michigan, Arkansas, and Oregon for the Men's Track and Field team, all before any of the conference realignment stuff goes into affect. Albeit, not every invite has every sport, so it isn't the full track and field team traveling to every single one of these meets.

How about you actually look up the sports and how their scheduling works before you make claims about how they are effected by the conference realignment.

 

[PMWinSTP]

Nationally, women's NCAA Basketball is red hot. Ratings for the women's tournament were better than the men tournament. Some of that is the Caitlin Clark effect.

ESPN and NCAA just last week announced a new deal that greatly increases revenue for women's NCAA basketball. It was not as much as many wanted but still a large boost. No idea how that money impacts Minnesota. This sport is strong and growing.

The WNBA is a lost cause. The NBA will subsidize that indefinitely. I think it's down to 6 teams now. College ball is much better.

Believe it or not, Minnesota is near the top of the nation for girls youth participating in basketball. Basketball for youth girls is huge here. It is major status.

And 14,000 girls play hockey in the state of Minnesota. The state of Minnesota has 6 Division I women's hockey teams and several more Division III teams! That sport is expensive due to the rinks but is permanently entrenched in this state.

I am guessing that Spirit Squad (dance and cheer) receives a large number of scholarships for women, although I am not certain. That is U of Minnesota's dominating superpower sport.

The softball team just hauled in a terrific recruiting class, I read.

I think a next big thing is soccer. That is a global phenomenon.

For the men, obviously football, basketball, and hockey are the big ones. Football requires a lot of scholarships.

And then universities subsidize both men and women other sports. Like track. What those are varies from school to school. Some schools have sports like fencing, cricket, or Nordic ski that Minnesota does not have.

Lacrosse is an emerging sport we could see in the future.

WNBA has 12 teams and will be adding a team next year, I believe. The new MN women's pro hockey team drew over 13,000.

PWHL Sets Pro Women’s Hockey Attendance Record With Minnesota vs. Montreal Game

Not even a week into its existence, the new league is making history.

www.si.com