Big Ten Bowl Participant Payouts: Since 1999

Submitted by Maize_in_Spartyland on

bigmc6000 got me thinking, with this board post earlier, exactly how teams fare in the Big Ten in terms of bringing in money to the conference.

Michigan stacks up fairly well against the conference, not surprisingly, in contributing value to the Big Ten. (Sorted by average amount brought in by a school, per season):

Team 1999-2000 2000-2001 2001-2002 2002-2003
Ohio State $0 $2,000,000 $2,000,000 $13,500,000
Wisconsin $12,700,000 $1,000,000 $0 $1,350,000
Michigan $12,100,000 $4,000,000 $4,000,000 $2,000,000
Nebraska N/A N/A N/A N/A
Penn State $1,300,000 $0 $0 $5,125,000
Iowa $0 $0 $1,200,000 $13,500,000
Illinois $750,000 $0 $13,500,000 $0
Purdue $1,900,000 $13,500,000 $1,000,000 $1,350,000
Michigan State $3,600,000 $0 $1,200,000 $0
Northwestern $0 $1,200,000 $0 $0
Minnesota $1,000,000 $750,000 $0 $750,000
Indiana $0 $0 $0 $0
         
Total $33,350,000 $22,450,000 $22,900,000 $37,575,000
Average $3,031,818.18 $2,040,909.09 $2,081,818.18 $3,415,909.09

 

Team 2003-2004 2004-2005 2005-2006 2006-2007
Ohio State $14,000,000 $1,450,000 $17,000,000 $14,000,000
Wisconsin $912,912 $2,650,000 $5,312,000 $5,312,000
Michigan $14,000,000 $14,000,000 $1,650,000 $14,998,000
Nebraska N/A N/A N/A N/A
Penn State $0 $0 $17,000,000 $2,850,000
Iowa $2,650,000 $5,125,000 $2,850,000 $1,650,000
Illinois $0 $0 $0 $0
Purdue $5,125,000 $1,450,000 $0 $862,000
Michigan State $1,450,000 $0 $0 $0
Northwestern $800,000 $0 $1,575,000 $0
Minnesota $1,450,000 $950,000 $780,000 $750,000
Indiana $0 $0 $0 $0
         
Total $40,387,912 $25,625,000 $46,167,000 $40,422,000
Average $3,671,628.36 $2,329,545.45 $4,197,000.00 $3,674,727.27

 

Team 2007-2008 2008-2009 2009-2010 2010-2011
Ohio State $17,000,000 $18,000,000 $22,200,000 $6,000,000
Wisconsin $3,000,000 $2,130,000 $2,130,000 $22,200,000
Michigan $4,250,000 $0 $0 $2,750,000
Nebraska N/A N/A N/A N/A
Penn State $2,225,000 $18,000,000 $4,250,000 $3,100,000
Iowa $0 $3,100,000 $6,000,000 $3,325,000
Illinois $17,000,000 $0 $0 $612,500
Purdue $750,000 $0 $0 $0
Michigan State $2,250,000 $4,250,000 $2,250,000 $4,250,000
Northwestern $0 $2,225,000 $3,100,000 $1,200,000
Minnesota $0 $1,250,000 $1,250,000 $0
Indiana $1,200,000 $0 $0 $0
         
Total $47,675,000 $48,955,000 $41,180,000 $43,437,500
Average $4,334,090.91 $4,450,454.55 $3,743,636.36 $3,948,863.64

 

Team 2011-2012 Total Average
Ohio State $2,700,000 $129,850,000 $9,988,462
Wisconsin $22,200,000 $80,896,912 $6,222,839
Michigan $6,000,000 $79,748,000 $6,134,462
Nebraska $4,600,000 $4,600,000 $4,600,000
Penn State $1,100,000 $54,950,000 $4,226,923
Iowa $3,350,000 $42,750,000 $3,288,462
Illinois $837,500 $32,700,000 $2,515,385
Purdue $750,000 $26,687,000 $2,052,846
Michigan State $3,500,000 $22,750,000 $1,750,000
Northwestern $1,700,000 $11,800,000 $907,692
Minnesota $0 $8,930,000 $686,923
Indiana $0 $1,200,000 $92,308
       
Total $46,737,500 $496,861,912 $38,220,147
Average $3,894,791.67    

(Individual bowl game amounts were compiled using figures provided by collegefootballpoll.com).

First, a couple notes . . .

  • For the 2005-2006 bowl season, Ohio State's bowl payout was listed at $14-17 million. They defeated Notre Dame, so we will use the $17 million figure.
  • For the 2005-2006 bowl season, Penn State's bowl payout was listed at $14-17 million. They defeated Florida State, so we will use the $17 million figure.
  • For the 2006-2007 bowl season, Ohio State's bowl payout was listed at $14-17 million. They lost to Florida, so we will use the $14 million figure.
  • For the 2009-2010 bowl season, Ohio State was the automatic bid; Iowa was an at large. As such, Iowa is listed as having $6 million, the proper amount for a second team from the same conference.
  • For the 2010-2011 bowl season, Wisconsin was the automatic bid; Ohio State was an at large. As such, Ohio State is listed as having $6 million, the proper amount for a second team from the same conference.
  • For the 2011-2012 bowl season, Wisconsin was the automatic bid; Michigan was an at large. As such, Michigan is listed as having $6 million, the proper amount for a second team from the same conference.

Note that Big Ten teams brought in the most money this season in recent memory (probably wouldn’t be the case if Nebraska wasn’t included). With that said, this year’s bowl season actually brought in, on average, less money per school, the lowest since the 2006-2007 year, excluding the 2009-2010 season.

Ohio, Wisconsin, and Michigan, not surprisingly, have brought in the most bowl money to the Big Ten, since the 1999-2000 season. Even if Michigan makes a BCS bowl game next year, they cannot surpass Ohio for the highest dollar amount brought in for a bowl game.

Nebraska has only been in the conference for one year, so I only included the bowl payout from this season.

Another thread somewhat addresses this point, but boy are Minnesota and Indiana dead wood. Combined, they have been to only ten bowl games in 13 seasons. Ohio, alone, has been to 12 and Michigan has been to 11.

Michigan State could have just as easily been grouped in with Minnesota and Indiana, if not for the hire of Dantonio. Say what you want about the guy, but he’s taken the Spartans to five straight bowl games.

Something to think about, next season Ohio is ineligible for a bowl game, due to NCAA sanctions. Penn State will likely take a step back, so may Wisconsin. Will teams like Iowa and Michigan State make up for the top teams not being in major bowls?

I'll likely be putting together stuff like this for the other conferences, which I'll post over at my website. Should be interesting to see how Michigan stacks up to other BCS conference teams.

EDIT: I re-ran the numbers using the $6 million figure for a multi-bid conference (that became the rule with the 2009-2010 season). Big Ten and SEC are getting $22.2 million per year for their first team. The remaining AQ conferences get $17.7 million each.

Comments

docwhoblocked

January 13th, 2012 at 7:19 PM ^

If you do the math $516 million less Nebraska=$512 million divided by 85 scholarships times 13 seasons x11 teams = is only about $42,000 per player per year.  Northwestern tuition, room and board is now over $54,000 per year so I guess ticket prices will go up there. 

(Dr. Evil laughs....)

mgoblue0970

January 14th, 2012 at 12:17 PM ^

It's not that simple... revenues are shared from TV, etc... gate receipts and merchandising are nice but Michigan also has to pay for 27 other varsity sports with the money from BB and football and still balance a budget.  It's not easy.  In fact only a few atheletic departments have a balanced budget or are self sustaining.

MGoSoftball

January 13th, 2012 at 7:26 PM ^

for tradition however it might be time to have the discussion about dropping a few low impact schools.  Nebraska will certaily help in the long run.  I'm loving that addition.

Sugaloaf

January 14th, 2012 at 4:15 PM ^

Part of the reason Michigan and Ohio State have such good records consistently is that we get to beat up on Indiana and Minnesota. 

The SEC's got Kentucky and Vandy. The Pac-12's got Wazzu (and now Colorado). Big 12 has ISU and Kansas. We need a few bottom dwellers...  And because they're all still well-funded, they have the occasional good year. Same with Minny and Indiana.

And seriously who wants to toss the Brown Jug away? That game is awesome.

wildbackdunesman

January 14th, 2012 at 3:00 AM ^

The 2nd BCS bowl that a conference gets per year doesn't get the full payout. Michigan in fact brought in less than half the amount you show for 2011, as well as other corresponding teams in different years.

Maize_in_Spartyland

January 14th, 2012 at 10:42 AM ^

Point taken, it is an additional $6 million for the second team in a conference making a BCS game, not the full amount.

However, the spot would be worth just as much if a non-AQ was there. Rather than divide the total amount the two conference teams secured (among each other) and creating a bigger mess, I left it with the full amount.

EDIT: If you know where I can find the exact figures (for the years where two teams from a BCS conference made a BCS bowl AND for the years the $14-$17 million range was listed), I'd gladly rerun the numbers.