Using the foundation of my college football research project, the Equity in Athletics Data Analysis Cutting Tool at the DOE, I will do exactly what the DOE website says you cannot do, compare big time college football programs to the NFL and English Football (soccer).
In English soccer there are four main levels (or divisions; there are many lower divisions, mostly non-professional) with the Premier League at the top, followed by Championship, League 1, and League 2 (92 teams). Each league is populated by professional clubs and players that get paid to play. The revenue distance from the top of the Premier League (first division) to the bottom of the Championship (second division) is vast but when you look closer there are revenue similarities between the NFL and college football.
At the end of the 2012 season, the top of the Premier League was Manchester United with its global brand and two decades of unbridled success; Manchester United made £320 million while at the bottom Wigan made £53 million. On a side note, Manchester made around $500 million (£320 million) while Dallas, the highest revenue producer in the NFL, made $406 million during the 2011-2012 season. The difference between Manchester and Wigan is 6x revenue, which is a much greater distance than the NFL, 1.85x from Oakland to Dallas, and MLB, 2.98x from Florida to New York.
For starters, I will look at the distance between the the bottom four NFL teams and the top four college football programs during the 2011-2012 season/academic year:
* 2011 revenue is provided by Forbs for the NFL teams and the Equity in Athletics Data Analysis Cutting Tool for the BCS teams. The table to the right, BCS to NFL, shows that Detroit’s revenue is 3x that of Auburn, et cetera.
The next chart shows the bottom four Premier League teams and the top four, non balloon/parachute payment Championship teams (left out were West Ham, Birmingham City, Blackpool, Hull, and Burnley). Revenue is in English pounds; multiply by 1.63 to get the amount in US dollars (the currency exchange rate in May 2012).
* The Premier League numbers are from the Guardian and the Championship numbers are from a blog about the finances of soccer (I could have gone to each team’s financial statements but these are close enough). The table to the right shows that Queens Park’s revenue is 3x that of Southampton, et cetera.
Why I am I looking over the revenue of the bottom four NFL teams, the top four college football teams, the bottom four English Premier League teams, and the top four (non balloon/parachute payment) English Championship teams? The distances between these teams and leagues are very similar:
- Southampton to Queens Park: 3.05x; Auburn to Detroit: 3x
- Alabama to Oakland: 2.6x; Leicester City to Wigan: 2.48x
- Leeds to Wigan: 1.71x; UT to Oakland: 2.1x
At this point you might ask yourself; why does this matter? It matters because in England there are multiple levels soccer that are fully professional and pay their players to play. The revenue distance from college football to the NFL is similar to that of the Championship to the Premier League (actual revenue amounts is different).
This brings me to the point of this article and my series on big time college football; top I-A football and basketball programs can turn professional, still make money, educate students, and support their affiliated academic institutions. Will a lot need to change for college football and those universities affected to turn pro? Yes, everything will need to change.
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