The good folks at USA Today on Wednesday released financial data for Division I schools in the 2022 fiscal year.
As a fan of college athletics first, I have a love/hate relationship with financial data. Programs do not dish out dividend checks to their fans. They do not hoist trophies for generating the most money in their conference. Heck, they don't even drop ticket prices after a good year.
But it's still fun to look at the scoreboard.
It should come as no surprise that the Big Ten and SEC populate the top of the leaderboard. In fact, if we count Texas and Oklahoma as SEC schools, the Power 2 occupied the top 13 spots and 25 of the top 30.
The SEC's median operating revenue, not including the Red River rivals, was $159 million in FY22. The Big Ten was close behind at $147.1 million. The ACC was third at $125.2 million, followed by the Big 12 ($106.9 million) and the Pac-12 ($96.9 million).
By my iPhone-calculator math, if we were to apply the FY22 numbers to how conference membership will look on July 1, 2024, the SEC grows to $165 million per school while the Big 12 drops to $100 million (private schools such as Vanderbilt, Baylor, BYU and TCU were not included).
Now consider that the SEC will add another $300 million per year when it's Game of the Week moves from CBS to ABC and the Big Ten's $7 billion TV deal kicks in next year, and it's easy to see why the ACC is having its collective freakout.
Here are the top 25 revenue-generating schools:
1. Ohio State -- $252 million
2. Texas -- $239 million
3. Alabama -- $214 million
4. Michigan -- $210 million
5. Georgia -- $203 million
6. LSU -- $199 million
7. Texas A&M -- $193 million
8. Florida -- $190 million
9. Penn State -- $181 million
10. Oklahoma -- $177 million
11. Auburn -- $175 million
12. Michigan State -- $173 million
13. Indiana -- $167 million
14. Virginia -- $162 million
15. Florida State -- $161 million
16. Kentucky -- $159 million
17. Clemson -- $158 million
18. Tennessee -- $155 million
19. Oregon -- $154 million
20. Arkansas -- $153 million
21. Iowa -- $151 million
22. Wisconsin -- $150 million
23. Louisville -- $146 million
24. Illinois -- $146 million
25. Washington -- $145 million
And here are the top 10 Group of 5 schools (not including soon-to-be Big 12 members):
1. Air Force -- $77 million
2. San Diego State -- $66 million
3. UNLV -- $64 million
4. Memphis -- $62 million
5. Colorado State -- $61 million
6. James Madison -- $58 million
7. South Florida -- $56 million
8. East Carolina -- $55 million
9. Fresno State -- $54 million
10. UMass -- $54 million
And, because I know you're curious, the lowest-ranked Division I school in FY22: New Orleans, at $2,526,887.