Tag: revenue

Forbes raises Saints’ valuation by half a billion dollars going into 2023

In the wake of several franchise sales, Forbes estimates that the New Orleans Saints’ valuation has risen by half a billion dollars going into 2023:

Several NFL franchises have sold recently, with the Denver Broncos selling for $4.65 billion and the Washington Commanders selling for a whopping $6 billion. Those exchanges have helped Forbes’ Mike Ozanian and Justin Teitelbaum estimate franchise values for all 32 teams in the league on the eve of the 2023 NFL season, including the New Orleans Saints.

And it’s a big number: Forbes estimates that the Saints are now valued by as much as $4.08 billion. That’s a climb over their $3.575 billion valuation by Forbes this time last year, but it reflects something the league is acutely aware of: business is booming.

Forbes says the average NFL team is worth $5.1 billion, an increase over the $4.43 billion valuation they suggested last year. With new broadcast rights deals padding out the league’s pockets, that number is expected to continue to climb. The Saints certainly helped raise their valuation by inking a long-term naming rights deal with Caesars Entertainment for the Superdome, which is entering the final stage of widespread renovations in advance of Super Bowl LIX in 2025 (preceded by a record-breaking three-day Taylor Swift concert tour in 2024).

What does it mean for the Saints and New Orleans, though? Team owner Gayle Benson, 74, has made it clear she has no plans to sell the team. She also has no heirs. In 2021 multiple local outlets reported her succession plan in the event of her death: any buyer would be contractually obligated to keep the team in Louisiana, with proceeds from a sale to go to local charities in the region. Team president Dennis Lauscha is to serve as the executor of her estate, with senior executives like Mickey Loomis and Greg Bensel also involved, if need be.

Hopefully that isn’t something we’ll need to worry about for a long time. Benson has been quick to invest in the Saints’ team facilities and her willingness to regularly cut large checks for signing bonuses has allowed Loomis and his chief assistant Khai Harley to restructure contracts as often as they have (something other small-market teams haven’t enjoyed).

Still, Forbes’ valuation ranks the Saints all the way down at No. 27 among their peers. At the end of the day they’re not based in one of America’s largest or most affluent metro areas. New Orleans punches above its weight class, and that isn’t something fans should take for granted.

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Which schools had the most athletic revenue in 2022?

Which universities saw the most revenue from their athletic departments this past year?

Earlier this week, USA TODAY Sports released its annual NCAA Finances: Revenue and Expenses by School database.

The database shows the revenue and expenses of 230+ public schools at the Division I level. Every public school at the Division I level has the obligation to release the data while private schools and those under state exemptions are not.

This year, five schools totaled revenue of over $200 million and 49 totaled over $100 million in revenue.

Power Five programs take up each of the first 51 spots in the rankings with UCF being the first non-Power Five program to make the list at No. 51. The Knights totaled $89 million in revenue this past year.

Power Five programs below Central Florida include Washington State and Oregon State at No. 53 and No. 54 respectively.

Beyond that there are not too many surprises when it comes to what athletic departments brought in the most revenue.

The Big Ten and SEC dominate the top 12 with 10 of the 12 universities being in one of the two conferences. The other two universities in the top-12 that are not members of either conference will be in the near future.

If anything the figures show very much what we have long thought of the college sports landscape. The Big Ten and SEC are miles ahead of the other conferences. The ACC is in a distant third while the Pac-12 and Big-12 will be in quite a bit of trouble once schools such as Oklahoma, Texas, UCLA, and USC leave their respective conferences.

Notably, neither UCLA nor USC’s revenue and expenses numbers are released. UCLA is exempted from doing so while USC is a private university.

Report: Wisconsin among the top 25 highest-earning college athletic programs for 2022-23

College athletic programs make a lot of money these days

USA Today released its database of total revenue figures for college athletic programs from 2022-23 yesterday. Wisconsin slotted in at No. 22 overall with a total revenue of $150,100,977.

The Badgers are the No. 7 Big Ten team on the list, with Ohio State taking home the top overall billing with a reported revenue of $251,615,345. Other Big Ten programs ahead of the Badgers include Michigan at No. 4, Penn State at No. 9, Michigan State at No. 12, Indiana at No. 13 and Iowa at No. 21.

The new age of college football can be seen on this list, with 17 of the top 25 schools that reported revenue coming from the Big Ten or SEC. That number is not getting any smaller moving forward with the Big 12’s Oklahoma and Texas set to join the SEC after this season and the Pac 12’s USC and UCLA set to join the Big Ten.

USA Today listed Wisconsin’s total expenses from last year at $147,807,183. Meaning the athletic department reportedly came away from 2022-23 with a $2,293,794 excess. That number is also sure to grow in the coming years as the Big Ten’s new television deal kicks in.

On3 noted the jump in schools making over $150 million, with nine current SEC schools above that mark compared to just one in 2014-15.

College athletics is a flourishing business these days. As we’ve seen across other sports including the NFL, these numbers tend to only grow with time. For Badger fans, it’s encouraging to see Wisconsin keeping up with the other top programs in this regard.

Alabama athletics poses record-setting revenue year in 2022

University of Alabama reports over $200 million in 2022 revenue

The University of Alabama had a record-setting financial year in 2022 as the school reported a record $214.4 million in revenue. Spending increased as well, but the athletic department still finished the fiscal year positive with $18.5 million, according to AL.com’s Michael Casagrande.

The revenue that Alabama brought in finished third in the country when compared to other universities from across the nation, behind Oregon ($391.8 million) and Ohio State ($233.9 million).

Alabama’s revenue was very dependent upon the Crimson Tide football program, as they were responsible for bringing in $130.9 million.

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The University of Texas launches LEVERAGE program to assist in NIL

The University of Texas announced that they have launched a program to assist with NIL. The LEVERAGE program will assist student athletes.

According to a press release from the University of Texas, they are launching a new program called ‘LEVERAGE.’ This program will focus on four key areas to help student athletes maximize their brand and platform. With the new NIL rules, student athletes will be able to earn income off of their own name, image and likeness.

LEVERAGE, which is part of the new the new 4EVER TEXAS program, is composed of four main areas of focus: Personal Branding & Brand Management, Business Formation & Entrepreneurship, Opportunity Management and Financial Literacy.

“When it comes to exposure, visibility, valuable connections and a broad and far-reaching network, Texas has all of that,” said Texas Football head coach Tom Herman. “With the NIL opportunities coming in the near future, the establishment of the LEVERAGE program is a personal development area where we will provide unmatched resources when it comes to building our players’ brands. The people they will meet, opportunities at their disposal and the resources our first-class Football and Athletics programs will provide are second to none, and this program is just another great reason to be a Texas Longhorn.”

This will help give the Longhorns the leg up on recruiting. In the ever evolving world of college athletics, one of the key issues revolves paying players their worth. For years it has been an ongoing argument about if and how student athletes should be allowed to receive financial compensation for their efforts.

According to the USA TODAY Sports database, no university generates more revenue than the University of Texas. In the 2018-2019 school calendar year, the Longhorns generated over $223 million worth of revenue. With the NIL, student athletes could tap into that brand.

The University of Texas launching LEVERAGE will not only help the university, but it helps the student athletes who want to build their brand. Athletes who want a huge platform and being able to earn their worth according to NIL rules.

Vikings ranked among most valuable sports franchises by Forbes

See where the Vikings rank among the most valuable sports franchises in the world!

Earlier this offseason, Forbes released a list of the highest-paid athletes in the world.

Based off his salary and his endorsements, Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins is the highest-paid NFL athlete at the time, according to Forbes. Cousins has an estimated earning total of $60.5 million  — $2.5 from endorsements with the rest coming from his salary.

Cousins came in at No. 9 across all sports in terms of his pay from June 1, 2019 to June 1, 2020.

This week, Forbes released a similar list, but for sports franchises. The outlet ranked the most valuable teams in the world, and the Vikings were pretty high up.

Among sports franchises in the world, Vikings were ranked No. 33 in terms of value. Minnesota’s value is listed at $2.7 billion, according to Forbes.

No other Minnesota sports franchises were on the list.

Report: NFL wants financial issues settled with NFLPA before Chiefs rookies begin workouts

Sunday could be the unofficial deadline for the NFL and NFLPA solving issues of a revenue shortfall.

The NFL wants to get financial issues settled with the NFLPA ahead of Sunday when Kansas City Chiefs and Houston Texans rookies are now scheduled to begin strength and conditioning training. According to a new report from NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero, the NFL is motivated to get come to an agreement before Sunday.

Pelissero says there isn’t an official deadline for the NFL and NFLPA to come to an agreement on outstanding financial issues related to a projected revenue shortfall during the COVID-19 pandemic. Sunday could potentially act as an unofficial deadline of sorts.

The NFL is projected to lose billions of dollars due to the pandemic and could lose even more if they had to cancel regular-season games. The NFL maintains that teams and players should account for any shortfall against the salary cap in the next two seasons. The NFLPA is advising its members that they should spread the hit out over the life of the current Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA). That choice would have the revenue shortfall impact the salary cap slightly for the next 11 years.

According to Pelissero’s report, if no agreement occurs before Sunday, the NFL is within its rights to tell teams to continue virtual work indefinitely. That’d mean Chiefs rookies might not be able to get started on strength and conditioning work. Pelissero also says that NFL players are unable to strike or hold a lockout due to a clause within the CBA.

The NFL and NFLPA have a pretty big gap to close on this issue. The owners feel like they’re handing out an interest-free loan to players if they go with the NFLPA’s suggestion. The players feel like NFL teams would be unable to pay talent if the salary cap took such a big hit in 2021 and 2022. Right now, there are no signs of either side budging on the respective opinions of how they should handle financials moving forward.

Buckle up for a potential standoff over this issue as we inch closer to what appears to be an unofficial deadline.

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Big 12 Football: Without football, huge changes could be on the way

As college football hangs in the balance, no fall season could result in the Big 12 schools like Texas making drastic cuts to the budget.

Not exactly breaking in news here, but in the south football is king. Especially the state of Texas. The term Friday Night Lights inspired a movie and tv show. College football is also a huge part of the weekend culture. However in today’s climate the game we love so much is at risk. Due to the coronavirus pandemic we lost college basketball tournaments, baseball and softball. Many of our favorite college pastimes were cancelled. Now football hangs in the balance almost a full six months later.

According to the Dallas Business Journal, schools may have to cut other sports just to survive. Here is how the revenue breaks down for each school.

University Football revenue Percentage of total revenue
Texas $156.1M 72%
Oklahoma $94.8M 60%
TCU $65.4M 55%
Oklahoma State $52.2M 57%
Iowa State S51.9M 65%
Texas Tech $51.1M 59%
Kansas State $46.2M 51%
Baylor $45.6M 45%
Kansas $38.2M 32%
West Virginia $24.7M 24%

No school in the conference generates anywhere near the amount of revenue dollars as the University of Texas. No other school generates as much of the total revenue from football as Texas. Without football, Texas will have to make some tough decisions due to how heavily reliant they are on football to generate revenue.

Schools like Baylor, Kansas and West Virginia are lower risks. None of these schools generate more than 45 percent of their revenue from the game of football. All three have good basketball programs that can help lighten the load a bit.

Around the country, schools and conference are having to eliminate programs due to these budget cuts. It is quite possible that if there is no football that Big 12 schools will have to follow suit in the coming weeks.

Texas generates more revenue from athletics than any other school

If the Longhorns can find a way to succeed on the football field, these numbers will continue to rise.

Whether Texas is producing on the field or not, they’re certainly succeeding off of it. Continue reading “Texas generates more revenue from athletics than any other school”

Saints could lose more than $440 million playing in stadiums without fans

The Covid-19 novel coronavirus pandemic has hit America hard, but it might hit the NFL and the New Orleans Saints in their pockets soon.

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Forbes’ Darren Heitner estimates that the New Orleans Saints could lose as much as $161 million in direct stadium revenue, and an even larger total of $441 million should the entire 2020 season be played without fans in attendance.

It’s tough to imagine the Mercedes-Benz Superdome sitting eerily quiet while Drew Brees takes the field for maybe the last time, but it just goes to show the lengths to which the novel coronavirus pandemic has altered American life.

Playing NFL games without fans would affect every team, but New Orleans stands to lose more than most due to its economic reliance on the tourism and hospitality sector. Games played in the Superdome are a huge draw for NFL fans around the country, and losing those visitors’ dollars would only compound a crisis the city is already dealing with.

And it might be the lesser of two evils. New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell has said that she’ll defer to the league’s judgment, but she believes playing in empty stadiums would be the safest course of action to prevent the spread of infections and potentially save lives.

The long-term impacts of this lost NFL revenue is yet to be determined, but it might be the first real hurdle faced by Saints general manager Mickey Loomis and his team in working around the salary cap.

Led by cap guru Khai Hartley, the Saints front office has navigated the always-rising salary cap with ease, knowing that increases in future years gives them resources to work with in the present. But if the cap were to fall instead due to decreased revenue, they might struggle to retain as many players while adding free agents next year.

Hopefully this doesn’t come to pass. But until widespread testing and a vaccine for Covid-19 are available, it’s tough to see NFL stadiums opening their doors to tens of thousands of fans any time soon.

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