In 2014, the NCAA pulled in 989 million dollars of revenue on top of an 80 million dollar surplus (huffpost). The NCAA, by their own definition, is a “member-led organization dedicated to the well-being and lifelong success of college athletes.” (ncaa.org). They are also, a non-profit organization and are classified as 501(c)(6) non-profit (Washington Post). This means that the NCAA is exempt from paying federal taxes on their earnings. Some other organizations classified under 501(c)(6) include: Red Cross, Amnesty International, and the Salvation army.
Every year, the NCAA ends with millions of dollars in surplus which they but into an “endowment fund” meant to “safeguard the institution against a financial catastrophe.” (Huffpost). The NCAA are also the beneficiaries of a 14 year, 11 billion dollar television contract for march madness (the yearly NCAA men’s basketball tournament), (Washington Post), a 12 year, and a 5.64 billion dollar contract with ESPN for the college football playoffs. This isn’t even taking into account the contract each of the major individual conferences have with various networks. The BIG TEN conference, starting in 2015, is set to make an average of 440 million dollars a year over six years solely from TV deals, while the SEC raked in 515 million in 2015 on their current contract. (Forbes). When broken down, each SEC school is worth 37 million dollars in revenue while each Big Ten school is worth a paltry 31 million. (Forbes). Keep in mind this is solely from Television contracts and excludes all other forms of revenue.
The most lucrative school in all of college sports in 2015, the University of Texas at Austin, pulls in an average of 182 million dollars a year from athletics (business insider). On Average, a Division One (FBS) football program makes just under 32 million dollars a year in total revenue and the average Division One basketball program makes a little over 8 million dollars a year. All in all, the 231 Division One Programs generated 9.15 billion dollars in total revenue during the 2015 fiscal year. (Business Insider). As of 2014, the NCAA has amassed 708 million dollars in year end-net assets with 385 million in the aforementioned “endowment fund” (USA TODAY).
Listed below are the estimated values of the top ten NCAA football programs.
| FALL 2017 RANK | PROGRAM | VALUE |
| 1 | Ohio State | 1,510,482,000 |
| 2 | Texas | 1,243,124,000 |
| 3 | Oklahoma | 1,001,967,000 |
| 4 | Alabama | 930,001,000 |
| 5 | LSU | 910,927,000 |
| 6 | Michigan | 892,951,000 |
| 7 | Notre Dame | 856,938,000 |
| 8 | Georgia | 822,310,000 |
| 9 | Tennessee | 745,640,000 |
| 10 | Auburn | 724,191,000 |
In comparison, Ohio State Football would be the eight most valuable NBA franchise, the twelfth most valuable MLB franchise, and just under the Buffalo Bills’ 1.6 million dollar worth. (Forbes) These are all professional leagues whose bare minimum salary begins at 300,000 dollars.
WIth all 128 schools’ valuations put together, the NCAA Division One Football Conference is the most valuable league in the United States. All of the money goes directly into the coffers of the schools and the NCAA itself. Each year, according to the NCAA itself 1.1% of NCAA basketball players and 1.5% of football players make it into the pros. (NCAA) The rest are left with nothing save the “lifelong lessons” and “intangible values” that NCAA athletics have imparted upon them. Lastly, I would like to leave you with this number. Of the 50 states that make up the union, the highest paid government employee is a college football or basketball coach. (ESPN). Of those thirty-nine states, the fifth poorest state in the U.S., Alabama, (247Wallst) is paying its head football coach, Nick Saban, 11 million dollars a year. Out of every single source of revenue, the labor, the player themselves, are a grand total of 0 dollars.
21st Century Citizenship 