5 Things To Know About The Big Business Of College Football

Even though college football players can’t earn a salary, college football is big money. How big? You’ll find out.

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Five Things To Know About The Big Business Of College Football 

1. The “power five conferences” (ACC, Big 10, Big 12, Pac 12, SEC) bring in considerable revenue, mostly due to lucrative TV deals. The SEC (Southeastern Conference) alone brought in $311 million from TV/radio rights for the 2014-2015 regular season.

2. Sponsorships are an additional source of revenue. Last year, the University of Michigan signed a deal with Jordan, a Nike brand. The deal runs through 2027 with an option to go to 2031. If it runs its full course, the school will pocket a minimum of $173 million that includes $85 million in Nike apparel/products.

3. While the schools are bringing in bank, the players are not. They can receive a cost of attendance stipend from the school, which is intended to help with outside school expenses (food, gas, etc). During their college career, they are not allowed to use their athletic ability, name or school name to make money. This is an ongoing debate and if you’d like to read more, this is a great article.

4. Athletes may not be able to be compensated financially but conferences are getting creative, providing covered medical expenses for injured athletes after they leave school and lifetime scholarships to sweeten the deal.

5. College head coaches make as much if not more than most NFL (National Football League) head coaches. The highest coaching salary in the NFL is $9 M. The top three highest paid coaches in college are:

1. Nick Saban (Alabama Crimson Tide) $11.12 M

2. Jim Harbaugh (Michigan Wolverines) $7 M

3. Urban Meyer (Ohio State Buckeyes) $6 M

Don’t worry most college coaches’ salaries come out of ticket sales and TV contracts, not tuition. 

But wait, there's more.

Want more of what’s happening right now in sports to chat up your colleagues? Here’s the three things you need to know for today.

The Rundown: Five Unusual Provisions In Athlete Contracts

Thinking about changing jobs this hump day? Don’t push your luck by trying to negotiate any of these oddities into your new contract.

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Five unusual provisions in athlete contracts

1. Sports contracts are iron clad agreements that protect an asset of the team, the athlete. There is a long list of things athletes are prohibited from participating in to ensure their health and safety. A few of the most popular banned activities include sky diving, driving motorcycles, auto racing, skateboarding and hot air balloons.
2. When the now retired A-Rod (Alex Rodriguez) was negotiating with the New York Mets some of his demands included an office at the stadium, his own marketing staff, a private jet and maximum billboard exposure. The Mets didn’t work out but A-Rod signed with the New York Yankees. No word on whether or not a private jet was included.
3. Former Arizona Diamondbacks player Troy Glaus’ contract included $250,000 for his wife’s personal business - equestrian horses.
4. Other odd inclusions include a soccer player who wrote in his contract that his team needed to pay for cooking classes for his wife. (Was she a bad cook)? Or the coach who wanted an annual gift certificate to the local gun shop? Even more interesting – a newly built house for every year of the athlete’s contract. 
5. When you hurt yourself while participating in a banned activity, why not simply lie about it? No one will know right? Wrong. Former San Francisco Giants infielder Jeff Kent said he broke his wrist while washing his truck. The team was suspicious because a man was cleaning. They found out he was popping wheelies on his motorcycle which was forbidden. Uh oh. 

• Extra credit – Which current head coach had the "Notre Dame clause" in his contract? Find out here. 

Golf

• Remember me? Do you know the golfer ranked 898th in the world? Yes, you do. It’s Tiger Woods. Woods, the former number one, looks to make his return to golf at this week’s tournament in the Bahamas after a 15-month break.

MLB (Major League Baseball)

• Glamorous life. New York Mets outfielder Yoenis Cespedes signed the largest contract for an outfielder in MLB. There is certainly no anti-golf clause in his contract. He’s been known to play golf right before night games and even sparked controversy last season for playing golf while on the disabled list with quad injury. (You may recall the story about Cespedes rolling into spring training last season with a new fleet of over the top vehicles).

Overtime

• Who doesn’t love a feel good story? The Los Angeles Lakers hosted a scrimmage game between the L.A.P.D. and local kids at their practice facility. The game wasn’t about recruiting, but to build the relationship between the two groups.  

Sideline stat

• 23,924 - The number of teddy bears thrown on the ice by fans at the Calgary Hitmen “Teddy Bear Toss” game. The Teddy Bear Toss is when fans bring stuffed animals to donate to underprivileged children. They throw them on the ice after the home team scores its first goal. This video shows every child’s dream come true – it’s raining bears. 

Coaches’ corner

• With only one week of college football left, the next to last set of rankings has been released. The top four ranked teams will play each other in a tournament style format to become National Champions.  

1. Alabama
2. Ohio State
3. Clemson
4. Washington