Image Source: Detroit Free Press
By Jacob Lyle
September 5th, 2021
It’s the best time of the year some would say, college football is back! But what does this mean from a financial standpoint. Let's take a look at what happened last year !
As we all know, COVID-19 hit everybody in a negative way. College football was no exception. College football generates more than $4 billion in annual revenue for the 65 universities making up the power 5, that number unfortunately was not generated last year.
The unfortunate truth is at most schools the football program is the only sport that net gains financially, and in many cases its money generated is used to fund other university sports. For example, LSU football program brought in over $92 million in revenue in 2019. This was over 60% of the schools overall athletic revenue. In 2019, only football, men's basketball, and baseball were profitable for LSU.
Over the past few months, the topic of allowing fans in the stadiums has been debated heavily. As it looks like many schools are allowing fans to attend sporting events, this will be one huge reason to expect an increase in revenue from last year. In addition, fans will be traveling all over the state/country to see these games. For example, on September 4th, 2021, over 109,000 fans attended the University of Michigan's football game. This will have an amazing impact on local business all over the college landscape!