NC State is Nation’s Fifth Most Profitable Hoops Program
Financial statements of the nation’s 344-odd Division I NCAA teams are out and and NC State’s hoops program is among the nation’s best in terms of profit margin.
Looking at the numbers above, you will see that UNC-CH generates almost twice as much revenue as NC State, but that it’s matching expenses are more than double than those of the Wolfpack’s.
Looking at the ACC, here’s how the schools stack up. First, by profitability (and double-click to see chart full-size):
Next, by revenue
Looking at these numbers, it becomes very clear that NC State’s hoops program is a cash cow for the athletics department, but that the results on the scoreboards have not matched those on the general ledger.
This says several things to me:
- That NC State’s fans are incredibly loyal and generous, despite the team’s performance
- That NC State’s hoops program has more than enough revenue to take on more expenses, such as
- Holiday tournaments such as the Maui Classic
- An increased recruiting budget
- lower ticket prices for unsold seats – used to generate brand loyalty
- Marketing
- And finally, if it comes to hiring a new coach, that the money is there for the top names in the game
Overall, the national numbers illustrate the multi-million dollar business that men’s hoops represents to universities and colleges:
14 Responses to “NC State is Nation’s Fifth Most Profitable Hoops Program”
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Seeing stuff like this makes me sick. NCSU makes the 3rd most in the ACC but spends the least amount of money. And you expect to have a successful basketball program? The two programs that run ACC in terms of success are the ones that spend the most. Its not like we’re paying our head coach 1 million dollars a year. They need to increase the recruiting budget if they want to contend in this market. I agree with the rest of the 3 points also. Except they don’t need to lower the prices. Just win games and the RBC Center will be sold out almost every home game. They definitely should market themselves more so that they are more recognizable to recruits.
At the same time it gives me hope. It shows that there are some things that can be done to make NCSU Mens Basketball more competitive. Not that there is a direct translation to wins and loses but it won’t hurt.
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see why change (either at the top of the department or at head coach) is so hard. Our program is a cash cow, why would you make any changes to the program?
BTW – I’d say the thread of the title is misleading because we are the program with the fifth highest profit margin, not the fifth most profitable program.
^ Point taken. NC State is the countries 12th most profitable program if you consider net profit by dollars.
My ranking was based upon ROI by percent.
Was it basketball or football last year that UNC tripled our expenses on recruiting while Duke doubled us on the same?
We spend no money… so the profit margin should be high.
Two questions:
1. How is it possible that we spend so much less than everyone else? Do we have specifics on what comprises the difference?
2. How on earth does Duke lose so much money?
This is probably the only source of argument that Fowlup was any good. (note: I would never make any suggestion that he was)
Makes me wonder why students still pay a pretty penny in fees towards athletics?
This is fascinating, thank you.
Totally agree with the points, no reason we shouldn’t blow numbers comparable to the league in recruiting expense. The facilities are coming along well, I can’t think of a better place to put our money.
Of course the new AD will cost a bit more than the last … and we’ll be paying him a while too.
LRM,
Start with K’s $4M salary…
Fowler obviously thought of himself as a CEO of sorts rather than an AD, and conducted his job as such. His bottom line was always dollars and cents not results on the field.
only in percentage is ncsu 5th and thats due to being so cheap when it comes to spending money which is one of the reasons for our poor atheletic program.
Goes back to Duke’s AD quote . . . “Fowler excelled under impossible conditions” . . . are you kidding me! Based on Duke’s fiscal approach, Fowler could have spend another $7MM or more on Basketball.
Kudos to SFN for producing these numbers – Further evidence that NC State is a hidden gem . . . hopefully our new leadership will expose it.
only in percentage is ncsu 5th
As stated above, NCSU is 12th in dollars earned. That’s still 96th percentile.
We need the guys running the Boston College basketball program to work on the Federal Budget.
Nice catch elvis. That’s how I think athletics should be run at public schools. Break even, don’t burden the students or the tax payers with the cost. Funny that a private school runs it that way. I wonder how they spent the last $12?
“Hey guys, its thirsty Thursday, and we have $12 left! Eh? Eh? Comeaaaaan”