By Greg Auman, Times Staff Writer
Monday, March 14, 2011
There's an interesting read at Forbes.com on the economics of Big East basketball, and it's curious to see how the USF Bulls fit in.
Using financial data from the 2009-10 season, USF ranked ninth out of 16 schools in net profit from men's basketball, thanks largely to having the lowest expenses in the league at $3.2-million. That's about $540,000 less than the next-closest school, Cincinnati, but it allowed USF to generate a profit of $1.37-million, which is more than Connecticut generated in the same season.
There can be misleading figures when a study is based on publicly reported financial data -- three Big East schools reported a zero balance to the exact dollar, which isn't likely to be the case, one way or another. It's hard to imagine Notre Dame generating less revenue from men's basketball than USF, but according to the study, that was the case in 2009-10.
The study also compares each school's revenues from football vs. basketball -- to no surprise, USF has the third-largest ratio of football to basketball, with only Notre Dame and Rutgers leaning more heavily on football between the two sports. An interesting starting point for conversation, if nothing else ...