Alabama Athletic Revenues Greater Than any NHL Team

The movement at Northwestern to unionize college athletes has (no surprise) sparked fierce debate — particularly in the big-money fields of college football and men’s basketball — over what those athletes deserve, and don’t deserve, and what the best method of getting them what they do deserve might be.

But one thing that’s not really up for debate any more: there’s no removing the “big money” factor from the equation any more. In this story analyzing the potential impact of the unionization movement, Associated Press reporter Antonio Gonzalez quotes an expert with an eye-opening piece of context for college athletics finances:

“Revenues derived from college athletics is greater than the aggregate revenues of the NBA and the NHL,” said Marc Edelman, an associate professor at City University of New York who specializes in sports and antitrust law. He also noted that Alabama’s athletic revenues last year, which totaled $143 million, exceeded those of all 30 NHL teams and 25 of the 30 NBA teams.

Texas is the largest athletic department, earning more than $165 million last year in revenue — with $109 million coming from football, according to Education Department data. The university netted $27 million after expenses.

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