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Part IV of our assessment of college basketball financials took an in depth look at the college basketball financials of the Large Ten Conference. Based on information from the 2009-10 academic year, we saw that (a) the average Big Ten school earned $ 12.five M in revenue with Wisconsin topping the list at $ 17.6 M, (b) men’s basketball revenues grew roughly 214% from 2003 to 2009 largely due to the advent of The Massive Ten Network, and (c) the conference generated approximately $ 138 M in revenues which is 2nd greatest amongst BCS conferences behind the Big East.
Component V of our look at college basketball financials herein focuses on the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC).
Recall from our earlier pieces that the financial information for these programs comes from the U.S. Department of Education and is for the 2009-10 academic year.В For factors described in the afore-linked pieces, this information is extremely robust and credible as schools should report their financials to the U.S. Department of Education.
ACC REVENUES AND PROFITS SKEWED WILDLY BY DUKE AND UNC
ACC schools average $ 11.6 M from men’s basketball, but the median is a lot more than $ 2 M below the mean at $ 9.2 M.
This is since Duke and North Carolina significantly skew the mean.В Both ranked amongst the leading 5 revenue-generating programs for the reporting year as they respectively earned 130% and 77% more revenue than the league average.
No other ACC team generated men’s basketball revenues above the league average, and 4 schools (Boston College, Miami, Clemson, and Florida State) earned at least 30% below the mean.
| TEAM | MBB REV | RATIO |
| Duke | $ 26,667,056 | 2.30 |
| North Carolina | $ 20,551,168 | 1.77 |
| Maryland | $ 10,739,282 | .92 |
| North Carolina State | $ 10,354,157 | .89 |
| Virginia | $ 9,788,223 | .84 |
| Virginia Tech | $ 9,252,293 | .80 |
| Georgia Tech | $ 9,143,914 | .79 |
| Wake Forest | $ 9,064,780 | .78 |
| Boston College | $ 8,026,369 | .69 |
| Miami | $ 7,081,121 | .61 |
| Clemson | $ 7,054,691 | .61 |
| Florida St | $ 5,756,857 | .50 |
| MEAN | $ 11,611,187 | |
| MEDIAN | $ 9,252,293 |
Not surprisingly, Duke and North Carolina are also far above their conference peers in terms of profits.
Duke earned $ 14.three M in men’s basketball profits for the reporting year, North Carolina earned $ 13.9 M, and then the next closest school was NC State at $ 7.2 M. The league average was roughly $ 5.three M.
| TEAM | MBB REV | MBB EXP | MBB PROFIT |
| Duke | $ 26,667,056 | $ 12,286,475 | $ 14,380,581 |
| North Carolina | $ 20,551,168 | $ 6,647,459 | $ 13,903,709 |
| North Carolina State | $ 10,354,157 | $ 3,104,152 | $ 7,250,005 |
| Maryland | $ 10,739,282 | $ five,160,381 | $ five,578,901 |
| Georgia Tech | $ 9,143,914 | $ three,873,987 | $ five,269,927 |
| Wake Forest | $ 9,064,780 | $ four,196,104 | $ 4,868,676 |
| Virginia Tech | $ 9,252,293 | $ four,790,553 | $ four,461,740 |
| Clemson | $ 7,054,691 | $ four,217,341 | $ 2,837,350 |
| Miami | $ 7,081,121 | $ four,651,481 | $ 2,429,640 |
| Virginia | $ 9,788,223 | $ 7,390,325 | $ 2,397,898 |
| Florida St | $ five,756,857 | $ 5,126,393 | $ 630,464 |
| Boston College | $ 8,026,369 | $ 8,026,369 | $ |
| MEAN | $ 11,123,326 | $ five,789,252 | $ five,334,074 |
| MEDIAN | $ 9,198,104 | $ 4,958,473 | $ 4,665,208 |
“BASKETBALL RELIANCE” OFF THE CHARTS FOR DUKE
Due to both the strength of their basketball program and the relative weakness of their football program, Duke generates almost 39% of their total revenue from men’s basketball. This is 1 of the largest “basketball reliance” statistics among Division I BCS schools.
| MBB Rev as | |||
| Team | MBB Rev | Tot Rev | % of Tot Rev |
| Duke | $ 26,667,056 | $ 68,536,289 | 38.9% |
| North Carolina | $ 20,551,168 | $ 67,613,805 | 30.four% |
| Wake Forest | $ 9,064,780 | $ 42,253,156 | 21.5% |
| Maryland | $ 10,739,282 | $ 51,641,771 | 20.8% |
| North Carolina State | $ 10,354,157 | $ 50,335,991 | 20.6% |
| Georgia Tech | $ 9,143,914 | $ 46,983,216 | 19.five% |
| Virginia Tech | $ 9,252,293 | $ 58,115,929 | 15.9% |
| Miami | $ 7,081,121 | $ 56,084,064 | 12.6% |
| Boston College | $ 8,026,369 | $ 64,502,395 | 12.four% |
| Clemson | $ 7,054,691 | $ 57,562,999 | 12.three% |
| Virginia | $ 9,788,223 | $ 81,841,632 | 12.% |
| Florida St | $ 5,756,857 | $ 75,209,179 | 7.7% |
| MEAN | $ 11,123,326 | $ 60,056,702 | 18.7% |
| MEDIAN | $ 9,198,104 | $ 57,839,464 | 17.7% |
Alternatively, schools with a greater history in football relative to basketball (e.g. Florida St, Virginia, Clemson, Boston College, and Miami) have a lot smaller “basketball shares”. Florida State, with the most storied football history, only generated 7.7% of their revenues from men’s basketball.
To this point:
| TEAM | MBB REV | FB REV | FB REV / MBB REV |
| Clemson | $ 7,054,691 | $ 30,994,503 | four.39 |
| Miami | $ 7,081,121 | $ 24,631,029 | 3.48 |
| Virginia Tech | $ 9,252,293 | $ 31,155,870 | 3.37 |
| Florida St | $ 5,756,857 | $ 18,958,861 | three.29 |
| Georgia Tech | $ 9,143,914 | $ 24,870,064 | 2.72 |
| Boston College | $ 8,026,369 | $ 19,184,902 | 2.39 |
| North Carolina State | $ 10,354,157 | $ 22,018,738 | 2.13 |
| Virginia | $ 9,788,223 | $ 19,004,653 | 1.94 |
| Wake Forest | $ 9,064,780 | $ 10,227,922 | 1.13 |
| Maryland | $ 10,739,282 | $ 11,540,368 | 1.07 |
| North Carolina | $ 20,551,168 | $ 22,077,550 | 1.07 |
| Duke | $ 26,667,056 | $ 16,109,324 | .60 |
| MEAN | $ 11,123,326 | $ 20,897,815 | 2.45 |
| MEDIAN | $ 9,198,104 | $ 20,601,820 | 2.39 |
This shows that (a) the average football revenue for ACC schools was $ 20.9 M per school for the reporting year, and (b) ACC schools averaged $ 245 in football revenue for each and every $ 100 in men’s basketball revenue.
Other fascinating points on this topic:
-       four ACC schools (Clemson, Miami, Virginia Tech, Florida State) generate at least 3 times as a lot revenue from football than men’s basketball
-       Duke truly generated far more revenue from men’s basketball than football, maybe 1 of the only schools amongst BCS Division I programs for which this is accurate.
CONFERENCE ANALYSIS
| ACC | 2009 | 2003 | Ratio |
| MBB REV | $ 133,479,911 | $ 98,850,529 | 1.35 |
| WBB REV | $ 13,783,701 | $ 6,047,077 | 2.28 |
| ALL REV: MEN+Ladies SPORTS | $ 420,234,244 | $ 323,565,900 | 1.30 |
| MBB Rev as % of Total | 31.8% | 23.5% | 1.35 |
| WBB Rev as % of Total | 3.three% | 1.4% | 2.28 |
| Basketball as % of Total | 35.% | 32.four% | 1.08 |
Comparing aggregate conference revenue data from 2003 to 2009 and controlling for inflation by measuring both years in constant 2009 dollars, we can surmise that:
- Men’s basketball revenues have grown roughly 35% throughout that span whilst women’s basketball revenues have increased by 128%
- Men’s basketball comprised practically 32% of the conference’s revenue from men’s and women’s sports in 2009, the largest percentage of any of the three conferences analyzed thus far
- Jointly men’s and women’s basketball comprised 35% of aggregate revenue from men’s and women’s sports in 2009, only up 8% from 2003 but rivaling the Massive East for the highest “share”.
That basketball is such a high percentage of total revenues in the ACC speaks to (a) the immense popularity and tradition of college basketball on Tobacco Road and (b) the fairly weaker football revenues generated collectively among ACC schools.
But make no mistake…these financials are wildly skewed by the 2 programs at the leading of the table. Duke and UNC.