The highest-earning Division III football programs are...
In seven and a half years at FootballScoop I swear few things I've written has sparked as much discussion and as many questions among the participants themselves as this series.
To answer your questions: No, I don't know how these numbers are calculated. The U.S. Department of Education requires colleges and universities to release their financial figures through the Equity in Athletics Disclosure Act. Those figures are made publicly available and, while we can see the numbers, we don't know what goes into them. That's left up to each school, and so as we move forward we need to understand we're not exactly comparing apples to apples. What one school classifies as football-related income another might put in the general athletics fund.
So, all that said, it doesn't make sense to me either that Mount Union would check in at No. 11 here and Wisconsin-Whitewater would not make the top 25.
But after examining finances at the FBS, FCS, Division II and NAIA levels, we conclude with a look at Division III. The numbers here are small enough that we don't need to round to the nearest million, hundred thousand or ten thousand. As we dip below $1 million in (self-reported) income, we can list out every single dollar earned.
1. Mary Hardin-Baylor (Texas) -- $1.7 million
2. George Fox (Ore.) -- $1.1 million
3. Trinity (Conn.) -- $1.09 million
4. St. Thomas (Minn.) -- $1.06 million
5. Hampden-Sydney College (Va.) -- $995,285
6. Berry College (Ga.) -- $994,987
7. Bowdoin College (Maine) -- $926,817
8. Trinity (Texas) -- $921,909
9. Wisconsin-Platteville -- $846,117
10. Tufts (Mass.) -- $836,027
11. Mount Union -- $834,938
12. Frostburg State (Md.) -- $821,788
13. East Texas Baptist -- $810,047
14. Amherst (Mass.) -- $800,369
15. Augustana (Ill.) -- $793,936
16. Springfield College (Mass.) -- $791,482
17. Utica (N.Y.) -- $791,208
18. North Central (Ill.) -- $782,089
19. Lycoming (Pa.) -- $776,822
20. John Carroll (Ohio) -- $760,483
21. Johns Hopkins (Md.) -- $759,396
22. Belhaven (Miss.) -- $757,901
23. Pacific (Ore.) -- $756,187
24. Occidental (Calif.) -- $752,107
25. Trine (Ind.) -- $751,888
And, because I know you're curious, the lowest self-reported revenue at at the NCAA level belonged to Martin Luther College in New Ulm, Minn. The Knights listed $89,758 in football-specific income in 2018.
For a series that began with Texas, a program makes money hand over fist but has spent the past decade tripping over its feet, it's fitting we close with this note. Mark Stein's Martin Luther program has won two consecutive Upper Midwest Athletic Conference championships and carries a 16-game conference winning streak into the 2020 season.
So the next time someone tells you money is everything in life, you can point them to Texas, and you can point them to the mighty Knights of Martin Luther College.
