November 4, 2009

College Football Coaches - Overpaid?

This morning on ESPN Radio, Colin Cowherd made a great point about the salaries of college football coaches.

In many respects, it seems absurd that a coach like Texas' Mack Brown could earn nearly $3,000,000 per year for coaching football. How can Mack Brown make $3,000,000 per year coaching a kid's game when the tenured Sociology professor, who has spent his entire life in studying, earning degrees, and educating the leaders of tomorrow, makes around $100,000.

The answer lies in the finances of college football.

Let's take a look at the average attendance figures for Mack Brown's first year as head coach at Texas.

For the 1998 season, Texas had an average attendance of 77,440. Based on what Cowherd said on the radio this morning, the average ticket price in 1998 was about $30.00. So, for the six home games in 1998, Texas pulled in about $13,939,200 from ticket sales.

For the 2008 season, Texas had an average attendance of 98,046 and the average ticket price was about $90.00. To keep an apples-to-apples comparison, we will keep with the six game home schedule (Texas played 7 home games in 2008. In 2008, Texas pulled in about $52,944,840 from ticket sales. They also played in a BCS Bowl Game which earned the school an additional $2,000,000 or so.

For you non-math majors out there, Texas pulled in over $39,000,000 more in ticket sales in 2008 compared to 1998 (74% increase).

When you start to consider the increased concession sales, souvenir sales, and donations from alumni, you realize that the difference between a mediocre football program, which Texas was before Mack Brown arrived on campus, and a great program is, on a very conservative basis, about $50,000,000.

So, considering the figures above, does it still seem absurd that Mack Brown makes $3,000,000 per year while Professor Whatshisname in the Math Department makes $100,000?

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