Highest Revenue Earning Athletic Programs 2023

[roadkill]

The point someone made earlier is most relevant to this argument. It is not what GT revenue was last year...it is what GT revenue has been for the last decade. Those arguing that we are a disappointment must show that data supporting their claims. I don't know that data (and know such data is hard to obtain reliably) but my sense is that our spending has been well below similar schools such as UNC and UVa.

Thank you. The data is on the Knight Database: https://knightnewhousedata.org/fbs. At least that appears to be where the chart's data was sourced. I only went back to 2020 to compare us with UNC and UVA because I didn't feel like parsing the data any further back, but it's there.

Those who look at only the most recent revenue and conclude "Look at GT - they have been underperforming compared to their conference peers!" are missing the big picture.

 

[Towaliga]

If you cannot handle "believe what you want to believe" I suggest staying off social media.

How many ACC championships do we have compared to either UNC or Virginia over the past decade? Both UNC and Virginia have over 30 championships to our five, four in golf and one in basketball. We are not remotely close to either program.

I’m too lazy to look it up, so I’ll ask you (since you seem to have already studied it). How many of the 30+ championships that each school has are from sports GT participates in vs sports GT doesn’t participate in?

 

[RonJohn]

For GT, $15 million would represent more than 10% of our revenue. From there, it comes down to decision making.

For instance, if GT had an extra $10-15 million/year to "play" with, GT could have easily afforded Jamey Chadwell or Willie Fritz...and to go even further, GT probably would have avoided the Geoff Collins fiasco because our pool of coaching candidates would have been larger.

As I said in my previous post, money doesn't make life easier, it just gives you more options.

I don't think our thinking is too far different. My point is much like yours that there are tiers. Is the $15 million significant in terms of being in a different tier? I would say no for the P4 programs. It is all about ratios. $15 million would be extremely significant to Georgia State because their revenue is around $38 million. That would be about a 40% increase in income. Their entire revenue is lower than the amount that GT gets from the ACC.

Once again, my response was to a poster saying that the reason that the reason that Illinois, Indiana, and Minnesota have so much income is because of that $15 million difference in media money. My response was that the difference in conference revenue is not the reason. Maybe I should have said not the only reason. If you take that $15 million away from Minnesota, the drop from 34th on the list to 24th. But I don't see this as an absolute ranking, much as you posted. Using your tiers, Minnesota would either stay in the same tier, or drop from the bottom of the second tier to the top of the third tier. It is $15 million more money. As you say it could be used wisely to do something. It doesn't put them into a different level than other teams. Those schools make a lot of revenue from other places than media money.

 

[stinger78]

For GT, $15 million would represent more than 10% of our revenue. From there, it comes down to decision making.

For instance, if GT had an extra $10-15 million/year to "play" with, GT could have easily afforded Jamey Chadwell or Willie Fritz...and to go even further, GT probably would have avoided the Geoff Collins fiasco because our pool of coaching candidates would have been larger.

As I said in my previous post, money doesn't make life easier, it just gives you more options.

While Fritz would have been a good hire for us, IMO, I do think he’ll retire within 5-6 years. We need longevity and consistency at the top. Look at what having SHW at the helm of MBB for 20 years did for the program. Look at what having Rice as AD for 18 years did for our athletic program overall.

Had Curry, Ross, or Johnson stayed on as HC, we may have avoided several bad transition years (1987, 88, 92, 93, 94, 95, 2019, 20, 21, 22). While the results of those hypothetical years may not have been great, we likely would have avoided major damage to the brand and built more local/state support.

All to say… I’m happy with Key and like the direction he is taking the program.

 

[Root4GT]

Self defeating for what goal. Winning the directors cup? Yeah. I do t care about that. Football and basketball winning I care about.

More revenue for fewer sports should be an advantage for GT in the sports GT fields teams. We underperform overall based on the revenue chart that was posted earlier.

 

[Root4GT]

While Fritz would have been a good hire for us, IMO, I do think he’ll retire within 5-6 years. We need longevity and consistency at the top. Look at what having SHW at the helm of MBB for 20 years did for the program. Look at what having Rice as AD for 18 years did for our athletic program overall.

Had Curry, Ross, or Johnson stayed on as HC, we may have avoided several bad transition years (1987, 88, 92, 93, 94, 95, 2019, 20, 21, 22). While the results of those hypothetical years may not have been great, we likely would have avoided major damage to the brand and built more local/state support.

All to say… I’m happy with Key and like the direction he is taking the program.

Curry, Ross and Johnson all left for a reason. Basically they didn't believe they could reach the level at GT they wanted to reach and stay their due to how the GTAA operates.

 

[Techster]

Curry, Ross and Johnson all left for a reason. Basically they didn't believe they could reach the level at GT they wanted to reach and stay their due to how the GTAA operates.

Curry left for the reason you're speaking of.

O'Leary also left because ND represented a bigger stage and ability to compete at the elite level every season.

Ross achieved the highest level any coach in the NCAA can achieve - a National Championship. Unless GT was going to become an NFL team, there was nothing GT could do to compete with the NFL. When he came back to the college game a decade later, he went to Army.

Johnson didn't "leave", he retired and never coached again. You can make the argument that CPJ having to fight tooth and nail for funds, and against some donors, drove him to retirement sooner than he probably wanted.

If GT is invited to the B1G (which I believe is a very strong possibility) we'll be able to compete with factories in terms of $$$, but if we don't, expect GT to become a stepping stone for coaches and players regardless of how well we do outside the P2. I think a lot of fans overplay the "He's a GT guy" or "He seems like a loyal guy that's not motivated by money" angle. If Key turns GT into a perennial Top 15-20 team, I expect factories to throw money at him GT won't be able to compete with. I have zero doubt Key will do what's best for his family, and that's taking generational wealth level money and set his family up for the rest of their lives. It's a business decision, and it always will be for coaches.

 

[Root4GT]

Curry left for the reason you're speaking of.

O'Leary also left because ND represented a bigger stage and ability to compete at the elite level every season.

Ross achieved the highest level any coach in the NCAA can achieve - a National Championship. Unless GT was going to become an NFL team, there was nothing GT could do to compete with the NFL. When he came back to the college game a decade later, he went to Army.

Johnson didn't "leave", he retired and never coached again. You can make the argument that CPJ having to fight tooth and nail for funds, and against some donors, drove him to retirement sooner than he probably wanted.

If GT is invited to the B1G (which I believe is a very strong possibility) we'll be able to compete with factories in terms of $$$, but if we don't, expect GT to become a stepping stone for coaches and players regardless of how well we do outside the P2. I think a lot of fans overplay the "He's a GT guy" or "He seems like a loyal guy that's not motivated by money" angle. If Key turns GT into a perennial Top 15-20 team, I expect factories to throw money at him GT won't be able to compete with. I have zero doubt Key will do what's best for his family, and that's taking generational wealth level money and set his family up for the rest of their lives. It's a business decision, and it always will be for coaches.

As you pointed all left because they didn't believe they could consistently achieve at GT what they could elsewhere or simply decided GT was not willing to do what was necessary to compete at the highest level in the ACC and College Football overall.

I have zero issue with any of them reaching for higher goals. They were all excellent as GT football coaches. You are correct in that if Key turns GT into a consistent 9 game or more winner he will leave for a chance to actually win a National Championship. I hope he gets GT to that level.

I don't see much changing in College Conferences until the next round of TV deals with the B1G and SEC. No way to know what level of money will be on the table at that time.

 

[roadkill]

More revenue for fewer sports should be an advantage for GT in the sports GT fields teams. We underperform overall based on the revenue chart that was posted earlier.

Sorry, but I will keep repeating this until the narrative changes.

Those who look at only the most recent revenue and conclude "Look at GT - they have been underperforming compared to their conference peers!" are missing the big picture.

 

[g0lftime]

More revenue for fewer sports should be an advantage for GT in the sports GT fields teams. We underperform overall based on the revenue chart that was posted earlier.

An interesting breakdown would be how much of each budget is football. UNC has a lot of no revenue sports we don't have, e.g. men soccer, women soccer, lacrosse, field hockey, wrestling, women's golf,. Not sure about gymnastics but probably do. We may be equal in per $ per fb and bb athlete. We get a break on tuition while Duke, WF, BC have higher tuition per player.

 

[leatherneckjacket]

Self defeating for what goal. Winning the directors cup? Yeah. I do t care about that. Football and basketball winning I care about.

Ok. How much winning have we had in football and basketball? Not much over the past decade. In the other sports in which we participated, we get almost no production outside of golf and occasionally volleyball and tennis. Our basketball, cross country, swimming and diving, and track and field teams all failed to qualify for post season for either men's or women's. Our baseball team, which should be as good as our golf program, is mired in a 18 year slump of continuous underachievement.

 

[iceeater1969]

At time of TFP hiring, the retiring gt coach had just had been given a 3 year extension. Gt was in 220 million debt. Revenue was in low 90 million which was in bottom 25 percent of acc.
.
No excuse for rushing the hire and going all in for TFP..


New Prez has started a fire on North Ave.