Report: Illini Last In Football Spending
In business there's a saying that you need to spend money to make money. And it could be argued that the same goes for winning football games.
In a series of stories on college football spending, Forbes magazine writer Kristi Dosh broke down the earning and spending of the 11 Big Ten teams.
The schools topping the revenue list don't appear to represent any surprises. The conference's premier programs are the biggest revenue schools, and by a lot. $17,334,653 separates the No. 3 and No. 4 ranked teams in terms of gross revenue.
Gross Revenue
1) Penn State Univ. $70,208,584.00
2) Ohio State Univ. $63,750,000.00
3) Univ. of Michigan $63,189,417.00
4) Univ. of Iowa $45,854,764.00
5) Michigan State Univ. $44,462,659.00
6) Univ. of Wisconsin $38,662,971.00
7) Univ. of Minnesota $32,322,688.00
8) Univ. of Illinois $25,301,783.00
9) Northwestern Univ. $22,704,959.00
10) Indiana Univ. $21,783,185.00
11) Purdue Univ. $18,118,898.00
In the spending habits of Big Ten teams there are a few surprises. From a local perspective, the fact that Illinois ranks 8th in revenue, but 11th in spending has to be concerning for Illini fans. While Illinois does reinvest roughly 44% of their gross revenue back into the program, if the team wants to compete they're going to need to spend more on their program.
Northwestern appears to have made the biggest financial commitment to football. Northwestern reinvests roughly 68% of their gross revenue, tops in the Big Ten.
On the other end of the spectrum, Michigan and Penn State only spend 28% of their gross revenue on their football programs, tied for last in the conference.
Spending
1) Ohio State Univ. $31,763,036.00
2) Univ. of Wisconsin $22,041,491.00
3) Penn State Univ. $19,780,939.00
4) Univ. of Iowa $18,468,732.00
5) Univ. of Michigan $18,328,233.00
6) Michigan State Univ. $17,468,458.00
7) Univ. of Minnesota $17,433,699.00
8) Northwestern Univ. $15,733,548.00
9) Indiana Univ. $12,822,779.00
10) Purdue Univ. $11,821,265.00
11) Univ. of Illinois $11,092,122.00
