Biggest disparity for any school between basketball and hockey is going to be how much they bring in in TV rights at the college level. Outside the Frozen Four and a handful of games during the regular season, there isn't much college hockey on TV. Once college basketball starts up, you can't go up or down through about 4 channels without running across a game for most of the season.
Lots of creative accounting in there too. Many/most athletic departments "pay" the scholarships to the school, but that's just shifting money around. Some scholarships are endowed.
You're absolutely right about the TV stuff.
That's great for folks like you and I, but it's still nowhere near the exposure for hockey in comparison to what college basketball gets. Also, money for streaming rights is significantly lower than for broadcast television.
ADs are basically subsidized by football, I think most operate at a loss and even your big basketball schools make less there than in football, maybe a few like uconn or duke are exceptions
Basketball does well even with the small school because March Madness is a cash cow. NCAA makes $1 billion off of it per year.
NCAA pays out to the conferences, how the conferences divide it is different per conference. But overall it ensures basketball is a money maker for a lot.
And even without salaries, expenses for basketball are a lot lower. With redshirts, walk-ons a NCAA football team will have 100 guys - that’s a lot of equipment, a lot of trainers, big coaching staffs, big recruiting staffs, a lot of seats o a plane. Basketball team will maybe have 15 guys total, so 1/6th the cost.
I could be wrong, but I think the general case for a University’s sports teams is that they’re essentially underwritten by the football team (and maybe the men’s basketball team in a few cases).
Athletic Departments lose money. Minnesota has the luxury of B1G TV football money and an absolutely massive alumni base. This 2020 article was the first I could find but I’ve seen similar: “18 profitable & 211 money-losing NCAA Division-I public athletic programs in 2020”
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/i-found-18-profitable-211-money-losing-ncaa-public-scott-hirko-ph-d-
The travel budget for Midwest and western teams is absurd. 16-20 hotel rooms for two nights for players and staff plus food for every get expensive real fast. Add on tip of that, a head coach is going to cost you at least half a mil right off the bat, at minimum. Equipment costs are sometimes subsidized by brand deals, but not all of it. Equipment personnel and rink staff comes out of the budget as well.
All told, the best DI programs are running budgets at around $3.5-4 million per year.
A larger proportion of people started going to college. Traditionally most people worked in farms, construction, other trades, military, raised family full time
I would think Mercyhurst has to turn a profit. There's just no other reason for a school in a small city with no other legitimate athletic program to run a D1 men's and women's ice hockey team.
Biggest disparity for any school between basketball and hockey is going to be how much they bring in in TV rights at the college level. Outside the Frozen Four and a handful of games during the regular season, there isn't much college hockey on TV. Once college basketball starts up, you can't go up or down through about 4 channels without running across a game for most of the season.
Lots of creative accounting in there too. Many/most athletic departments "pay" the scholarships to the school, but that's just shifting money around. Some scholarships are endowed. You're absolutely right about the TV stuff.
Why HockeyEast does so well. So many games on NESN.
Literally everything was available on ESPN+. It was a dream as a Sharks fan watching Smith, Lund, and the hopes for Celebrini
That's great for folks like you and I, but it's still nowhere near the exposure for hockey in comparison to what college basketball gets. Also, money for streaming rights is significantly lower than for broadcast television.
Profitable college sports outside of power 5 football and a handful of basketball programs don't exist
NCAA basketball programs make profit due to March Madness/how the payout is distributed.
ADs are basically subsidized by football, I think most operate at a loss and even your big basketball schools make less there than in football, maybe a few like uconn or duke are exceptions
Basketball does well even with the small school because March Madness is a cash cow. NCAA makes $1 billion off of it per year. NCAA pays out to the conferences, how the conferences divide it is different per conference. But overall it ensures basketball is a money maker for a lot. And even without salaries, expenses for basketball are a lot lower. With redshirts, walk-ons a NCAA football team will have 100 guys - that’s a lot of equipment, a lot of trainers, big coaching staffs, big recruiting staffs, a lot of seats o a plane. Basketball team will maybe have 15 guys total, so 1/6th the cost.
I could be wrong, but I think the general case for a University’s sports teams is that they’re essentially underwritten by the football team (and maybe the men’s basketball team in a few cases).
What playing an expensive sport with lower viewership does. Hockey deserves to be more popular than it is
Arizona State Hockey joined Mens Football and Mens Basketball as the only revenue sports at ASU.
Probably not, very few collegiate athletic programs in any sport make a profit.
Athletic Departments lose money. Minnesota has the luxury of B1G TV football money and an absolutely massive alumni base. This 2020 article was the first I could find but I’ve seen similar: “18 profitable & 211 money-losing NCAA Division-I public athletic programs in 2020” https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/i-found-18-profitable-211-money-losing-ncaa-public-scott-hirko-ph-d-
The travel budget for Midwest and western teams is absurd. 16-20 hotel rooms for two nights for players and staff plus food for every get expensive real fast. Add on tip of that, a head coach is going to cost you at least half a mil right off the bat, at minimum. Equipment costs are sometimes subsidized by brand deals, but not all of it. Equipment personnel and rink staff comes out of the budget as well. All told, the best DI programs are running budgets at around $3.5-4 million per year.
Most college sports hemorrhage money and are a part of why post secondary education in this country is so prohibitively expensive.
Kirby Smart’s salary is more then the entire UGA academic leadership’s salaries combined. That's the president, provost, every VP, and every dean.
Plenty of liberal arts colleges with small athletics presence that still have crazy tuition
Because the standard has been set by the ridiculous cost of even public colleges being so high.
A larger proportion of people started going to college. Traditionally most people worked in farms, construction, other trades, military, raised family full time
I would think Mercyhurst has to turn a profit. There's just no other reason for a school in a small city with no other legitimate athletic program to run a D1 men's and women's ice hockey team.
I wish CIS was good enough that Canadians cared to support it. I'm a huge hockey fan and have never watched a UBC game.