Big Time College Football: Revenue Criteria and Salary Cap

Designing a professional college football league would require a lot of changes to the current system (to put it mildly). I will first go over revenue criteria, salary cap, and average player salary of my proposed NCAA Football Pro-League. .

What will the minimum revenue  threshold be for the new NCAA Football Pro-League? Using the he Equity in Athletics Data Analysis Cutting Tool, the following chart shows how many I-A programs fell within the following revenue ranges during the 2011-2012 academic school year/season:

Should the new league have 32 teams with a minimum revenue threshold of $30 million; 48 teams with a minimum revenue of $25 million; or 60 teams with the minimum revenue threshold set at $20 million?

For my proposed NCAA Football Pro-League, the minimum revenue threshold should be set at $30 million. Below are the top benefits of a $30 million minimum:

1. There are 32 NFL teams and initially the NCAA Football Pro-League would have 32 teams; nice parallel.

2. $30 million in revenue is nothing to laugh at. Most teams that have $30 million in revenue have large fan bases that reach beyond their localities.

3. $30 million in revenue allows for a solid salary cap.

Because so many changes would be needed to form the Pro-League, a $30 million minimum would just be a start. After the initial 32 teams are set, additional teams would be able to work towards meeting the minimums (not just revenue) allowing the league to slowly grow over time. The league might eventually reach 48 or even 60 teams as long as each team is financially solid and can conduct football operations in the black. The minimum revenue threshold would also be adjusted each year to account for inflation.

Next, the NCAA Football Pro-League would require a salary cap. The NFL salary cap in 2011 was $120 million and using the revenue of the bottom four teams as a guide, 50% of their revenue went to player’s salaries. Using the NFL as the precedent and with the minimum revenue threshold at $30 million, this would allow for a $15 million salary cap (simple but effective). Rosters would also be reduced from the current blotation of up to 120 players to the NFL norm of 75 including the practice squad.

The following chart shows how much salary and benefits would cost an NCAA Football Pro-League team if the salary cap was set at $15 million. Option A is a team that meets the salary cap exactly at $15 million and Option B is a team that is at 75% of the salary cap. I included how much normal employment benefits and additional player costs would add to the salary.

At team like Ohio State, which made in $58.1 million during the 2011-2012 could easily go with Option A because after paying player salaries, benefits, and additional costs Ohio State would still have $37.1 million left. A team like Georgia Tech, which made $32.1 million would go with Option B because after playing player salaries, benefits, and additional costs Georgia Tech would have $16.35 million left versus $11.1 million with Option A. That additional $5.25 million for a team like Georgia Tech would pay for the all the coaches salaries and allow them to operate in the black rather than the red.

With the minimum revenue criteria and salary cap established we can look at how much players will be making. The minimum salary for an NFL rookie in 2011-2012 was $375,000. If the NCAA Football Pro-League has salaries that vary between options A and B, the salary range would be between $100,000 to $300,000, or between 30% to 60% of an NFL rookie. A player on the practice squad could bring in $100k while a highly recruited high school phenom could make $300k. This would allow a player like Johnny Manziel, A.J. MaCarron, or even Ka’Deem Carey to make $300,000 a year rather than around $18k according to one source (high end).