Brian: Curious as to how BC Athletics revenues compared to other F.B.S. athletic programs in 2007-2008? The Orlando Sentinel's College Gridiron 365 blog has your answer:
Towards the end of the post, I found this quote interesting:
Indeed, of the top 32 earners, only Duke's Wallace Wade Stadium - with a capacity of 33,941 - is smaller than BC's Alumni Stadium (although something tells me Duke is able to make up for its football stadium's capacity shortfall with the financial success of their men's basketball program). The average stadium capacity for the 31 programs that made more money than BC is 78,821.
Here is how the twelve ACC athletics departments stacked up to one another in the rankings:
If the numbers for programs like Miami (Fla.) or Florida State seem low, this is likely because of the small number of varsity sports sponsored by these schools (Miami sponsors 15, the lowest number in the ACC, and Florida State sponsors 17, the second lowest). However, the number of sponsored varsity sports doesn't tell the whole story either. Take a look at Virginia at 2nd in the ACC with $65 million in revenues compared to NC State at 11th in the ACC with $44 million in revenues. Both programs sponsor 25 varsity sports. If you look at revenue per varsity sport sponsored, though, these numbers tell a very different story.
Still, in the ACC, only Duke, Virginia and UNC took in more athletics revenue than Boston College did last year. So for those BC haters out there that say that the move from the Big East to the ACC was a financial failure, don't bust balls. (The first Big East program on the list is Connecticut at No. 39).
If you take one thing away from this list though, it does accurately shows you just how uneven the financial playing field is in college athletics. For example, note the 6 SEC programs in the top 13. Clearly, there will be a separation between the "haves" (the BCS conferences and Notre Dame) and the "have-nots," but it's almost scary to see how wide the divide is in college athletics.
Here's how the conferences stack up to one another:
| Rank | School | Total Revenue | Conference |
| 1st | Texas | $120,288,370 | Big 12 |
| 2nd | Ohio State | $117,953,712 | Big Ten |
| 3rd | Florida | $106,030,895 | SEC |
| 4th | Michigan | $99,027,105 | Big Ten |
| 5th | Wisconsin | $93,452,334 | Big Ten |
| 6th | Penn State | $91,570,233 | Big Ten |
| 7th | Auburn | $89,305,326 | SEC |
| 8th | Alabama | $88,869,810 | SEC |
| 9th | Tennessee | $88,719,798 | SEC |
| 10th | Oklahoma State | $88,554,438 | Big 12 |
| 11th | Kansas | $86,009,257 | Big 12 |
| 12th | Louisiana State | $84,183,362 | SEC |
| 13th | Georgia | $84,020,180 | SEC |
| 14th | Notre Dame | $83,352,439 | Independent |
| 15th | Iowa | $81,148,310 | Big Ten |
| 16th | Michigan State | $77,738,746 | Big Ten |
| 17th | Oklahoma | $77,098,009 | Big 12 |
| 18th | Stanford | $76,661,466 | Pac-10 |
| 19th | USC | $76,409,919 | Pac-10 |
| 20th | Nebraska | $75,492,884 | Big 12 |
| 21st | Texas A&M | $74,781,640 | Big 12 |
| 22nd | Kentucky | $71,186,184 | SEC |
| 23rd | Duke | $67,820,335 | ACC |
| 24th | South Carolina | $66,545,953 | SEC |
| 25th | UCLA | $66,088,264 | Pac-10 |
| 26th | Virginia | $65,400,485 | ACC |
| 27th | Arkansas | $64,197,470 | SEC |
| 28th | California | $63,884,710 | Pac-10 |
| 29th | Minnesota | $63,782,454 | Big Ten |
| 30th | Purdue | $62,093,614 | Big Ten |
| 31st | North Carolina | $61,263,269 | ACC |
| 32nd | Boston College | $61,203,340 | ACC |
Towards the end of the post, I found this quote interesting:
"As the figures indicate, the athletic departments with the highest revenue typically are from schools that fill 80,000- to 100,000-seat football stadiums on autumn Saturdays and come from conferences that receive an automatic Bowl Championship Series bid."While the is statement about the 80,000 to 100,000-seat football stadiums is largely true - the four athletic programs with 100,000+ capacity football stadiums ranked 4th (Michigan), 6th (Penn State), 2nd (Ohio State) and 9th (Tennessee), respectively - it certainly seems strange to see BC hovering around the top 25% of this list.
Indeed, of the top 32 earners, only Duke's Wallace Wade Stadium - with a capacity of 33,941 - is smaller than BC's Alumni Stadium (although something tells me Duke is able to make up for its football stadium's capacity shortfall with the financial success of their men's basketball program). The average stadium capacity for the 31 programs that made more money than BC is 78,821.
Here is how the twelve ACC athletics departments stacked up to one another in the rankings:
| Rank | School | Total Revenue | Conference |
| 23rd | Duke | $67,820,335 | ACC |
| 26th | Virginia | $65,400,485 | ACC |
| 31st | North Carolina | $61,263,269 | ACC |
| 32nd | Boston College | $61,203,340 | ACC |
| 34th | Clemson | $59,126,212 | ACC |
| 37th | Virginia Tech | $56,029,172 | ACC |
| 41st | Maryland | $54,171,741 | ACC |
| 49th | Georgia Tech | $47,126,247 | ACC |
| 51st | Miami (Fla.) | $46,849,990 | ACC |
| 53rd | Florida State | $45,414,953 | ACC |
| 55th | North Carolina State | $44,553,795 | ACC |
| 60th | Wake Forest | $39,961,624 | ACC |
If the numbers for programs like Miami (Fla.) or Florida State seem low, this is likely because of the small number of varsity sports sponsored by these schools (Miami sponsors 15, the lowest number in the ACC, and Florida State sponsors 17, the second lowest). However, the number of sponsored varsity sports doesn't tell the whole story either. Take a look at Virginia at 2nd in the ACC with $65 million in revenues compared to NC State at 11th in the ACC with $44 million in revenues. Both programs sponsor 25 varsity sports. If you look at revenue per varsity sport sponsored, though, these numbers tell a very different story.
Still, in the ACC, only Duke, Virginia and UNC took in more athletics revenue than Boston College did last year. So for those BC haters out there that say that the move from the Big East to the ACC was a financial failure, don't bust balls. (The first Big East program on the list is Connecticut at No. 39).
If you take one thing away from this list though, it does accurately shows you just how uneven the financial playing field is in college athletics. For example, note the 6 SEC programs in the top 13. Clearly, there will be a separation between the "haves" (the BCS conferences and Notre Dame) and the "have-nots," but it's almost scary to see how wide the divide is in college athletics.
Here's how the conferences stack up to one another:
| Conference | Avg. Revenue | Highest | Lowest |
| Big Ten | $76,419,044 | Ohio State (2) | Northwestern (59) |
| SEC | $71,149,219 | Florida (3) | Mississippi St. (75) |
| Big XII | $66,480,752 | Texas (1) | Iowa St. (63) |
| Pac-10 | $58,767,200 | Stanford (18) | Washington St. (62) |
| ACC | $54,076,764 | Duke (23) | Wake Forest (60) |
| Big East | $45,553,455 | Connecticut (39) | Cincinnati (67) |
| Mountain West | $30,755,578 | TCU (57) | Colorado St. (88) |
| C-USA | $25,706,808 | Memphis (68) | Southern Miss (111) |
| WAC | $20,452,529 | Hawaii (70) | La. Tech (115) |
| MAC | $19,997,769 | Temple (79) | Ball State (107) |
| Sun Belt | $13,807,386 | FIU (95) | La.-Monroe (118) |