Buckeye 2015 posted:As far as making big money.....let's assume 6,000 people per game x $12/ticket x 35 home games/year. That's $2,500,000 year in ticket revenue. Figure $5/person/game in concession profits that adds another million, so that's $3.5 mil in revenue. Sure, there are no more than a dozen teams doing these numbers regularly, but that's pretty good money when you're only giving out 11.7 scholarships. For schools like that, paying a third coach $50k isn't going to break them
I'm good with these numbers as a starting point for revenue for the successful bigger schools. But you haven't even begun to touch on the costs. Those 11.7 scholly's, covering tuition plus room & board - $700K?. If they have 35 home games, they also have 35 road games. How much does it cost to put a full travel squad (28?) on a bus or plane for a weekend, lodging and food, x a dozen trips or so per season? Don't forget, they get meal money for home games too. That stadium that holds a good size crowd needs constant maintenance, power, security, safety, ticket sales, etc. Someone has to man and sell those concessions and there are costs associated with the goods as well. Multiple full sets of uni's and gear for all rostered players and coaches, as well as several sets of practice gear. Throw in athletic trainers, S&C guy, administration, promotion, logistics/operations, recruiting travel, conference travel and representation, conference fees, etc., HC and first paid coach salaries, etc. And then there is insurance... yikes.
Sure, good brand sponsorships can cover some of these but it ain't like football. Lets look at your 6K attendance... You think you'll get the same 6K to show up for your non-conference mid-week blowout opponent? And how many tix are given for free to school donors, sponsors, friends and family, student body, etc? Heck, it might be half of the attendance!
I can't quickly assign precise costs to all of this and I know parts of this gets absorbed by bigger university departments, but I could sure imagine that gate and concession revenue disappearing in a hurry.