The Business of College Football

turn on the television almost any day

this week and you'll find a college

football game and there's a good reason

why the popularity and importance of the

sport is at an all-time high that's

because for more and more universities

across the country success on the

football field now equals a higher

profile for the entire school this is

fueled an arms race in the college game

the likes of which the sport has never

seen and with a lucrative national

playoff beginning in 2015 that race will

only accelerate just how essential is

college football these days well judge

for yourself as we take you on the road

and behind the scenes beginning in

Michigan Stadium in a place they called

a big house on a fall Saturday in Ann

Arbor Michigan and players from the

winningest program in the history of

college football first with the feet

it's one of the timeless traditions that

define the game Michigan Wolverine

slapping banner in the country's biggest

stadium as the band blares the squeeze

fades fights

a hundred twelve thousand fans roaring

is one exactly how Michigan athletic

director Dave ran what we want people to

never even think about staying home and

watching this in 3d on their flat screen

television

we want things to be going on here that

are not going to get covered and not

going to be our

that's why for Michigan's home opener

Brandon brought in a stealth bomber to

help kick off the game

and two seasons ago had the game boss

special delivery right up the sky we

want our fans to be wild Dave Brandon

was hired as athletic director here two

years ago how he doing

a former Michigan football player in CEO

of Domino's Pizza schooled in the

ingredients of marketing success good

morning

are we doing we ready to go on game day

he never stops moving arriving five

hours earlier double-checking on

everything from the expensive Suites so

what's the best seller to the concession

stands hi I'm with the quality control

department to the freshness the cookies

truth is he simply can't afford not to

be obsessed with the tiniest details

because like virtually every other

college in the country

Michigan's entire athletic department

budget this year all 133 million dollars

supporting 29 sports is built on the

back of one thing

football revenue how much of that

hundred and thirty three million is your

football team responsible for about

seventy five percent so I'm doing the

math that's north of ninety million

dollars does that number keep you up

well I think it was Mark Twain who said

if you put all your eggs in one basket

you better watch your basket

I watch my basket pretty carefully when

it comes to football

Michigan has the nation's largest alumni

group zealous fan base it gobbles up

millions of dollars in merchandise 86-81

you can so Brandon taps into that fervor

any way he can

yes for six thousand dollars a pop

the big house can occasionally be turned

into the Chapel of love you are now

husband and wife

with revenue streams flowing from every

direction

Michigan's athletic department turns a

profit but it is the exception in

college sports the business model of

big-time college athletics is primarily

broken its it's a horrible business

model that all seem broken you've got a

hundred and twenty five of these

programs out of one hundred twenty five

twenty two of them were cash flow even

or cashflow positive now thankfully

we're one of those what that means is

you've got a model that's not

sustainable in most cases you just don't

have enough revenues to support the cost

and the cost continue to go up why a big

reason is universities are in the midst

of a sports building big now Berkeley

for example renovated its stadium to the

tune of 321 million dollars the list is

endless

Michigan's athletic department floated

226 million dollars in bonds to upgrade

the big house

what do you chase him we want to win

championships and you're gonna get a big

payout

we're gonna have excited fans we're

gonna fill stadiums we're gonna be on TV

we're gonna accomplish all of the goals

that we need to accomplish to keep this

department moving ahead and that's where

the phrase arms race comes up if you

don't keep pace if you don't stay

competitive you're gonna have a problem

inside a recently built indoor practice

facility that many an NFL team would

envy we spoke to Michigan's head coach

Brady Hoke can you recruit a top player

without facilities like this you know it

matters I'd be sitting here lying if I

didn't think it matter I think the other

part of it though the people have to

matter to the program every school has

been chasing is Alabama

the Crimson Tide have rolled to two

national titles in the last three years

the architect of that success is Nick

Saban as innovative a coach as there is

in the game a leader of another

escalating trend in college football

skyrocketing coaching salaries Saban has

paid over five million dollars a year

more than Alabama's Chancellor are you

worth it probably not probably not but I

think the other side of that is you

almost have to look at what return

has there been on that investment since

Saban took over in 2007

Alabama's profits have nearly tripled a

rare athletic department not drowning

and ready Saban's championship ways have

not only earned him a place in Alabama

lore today he and his school are such a

valued commodity they were hand-picked

for the showcase game in primetime the

first Saturday of this season matchup

engineered by ESPN Alabama against

mission

inside sold-out Cowboys Stadium in

Dallas in front of 90,000 diamond fans

each school took home a record ten

million dollars from ticket sales and

television rights in athletic directors

dream this game will sell

they will create interest for tickets

back home

it'll hopefully get other networks

for schools without the pedigree of

Michigan or Alabama football has become

the fastest way to put their

universities on the map

this was unheralded Towson University

preparing in Baton Rouge Louisiana to

play powerhouse LSU and what is known is

it guaranteed and Towson was guaranteed

a half a million dollars to show up and

also guaranteed to lose national TV no

less before the game we spoke to Towson

athletic director Mike wah down

why subject your team to this there'll

be more people watching this game

tonight than perhaps have ever watched

anything to do with Towson University in

our history going back 146 years but

then a funny thing happened on the

weight of the slaughter the sacrificial

lambs didn't lie down with five minutes

to go in the first half

nobody's from North Paulding led mighty

LSU 9 7 but at halftime Towson head

coach Rob Ambrose wasn't gloating any

you sons of that are smiling cuz

you think we did something I'm gonna

kill you

it's a 15-round fight not 5 got it

what the hell are we wait

LSU's talent would eventually prove too

much the Towson never stopped fighting

right to the end an eventual 38:22 loss

on the scoreboard but a win the Towson

University green way to go buddy

way to go you couldn't buy this type of

advertisement nationally even at a place

like Michigan one of the top academic

institutions in the country football is

the front porch to the school and a

magnet for donations to the entire

university this is a huge gaming season

our development folks have actually done

statistical research on how much of the

giving takes place during football

season and it's a disproportionate

amount disproportionate how much I think

the number is somewhere between sixty

and seventy percent and that's why in

many cases you see universities who

dropped football bringing it back

because that magnet works come out and

that that's a good one with all this on

the line believe it or not there is no

more important higher a university can

make these days then it's head football

coach this is Michigan for God's sakes I

mean in michigan's case last year it was

little known Brady Hoke

she walked anybody character counts

coach who has revitalized

this story program Snyder who spa Hoke

is the last to admit to the pressure

he's under the winds but like most

coaches his life speaks for average day

when do you get in here

5:45 an average day when do you leave Oh

9:30 10:00 10:30 sometimes the Alabama

game started at around 7:15 Texas time

now how much did you eat that day I did

why that's a good question

probably a little bit of ants eNOS

nerves whatever

Alabama's Nick Saban knows that feeling

all too well how long will you let

yourself savor a win like that win over

Michigan oh we won the national

championship about two hours after the

game somebody said you don't seem very

happy and I said well I'm just worried

about what the issues are gonna be for

next year because something's happened

so you loud yourself a whole Wondra dand

20 minutes of pure pleasure not very

long but punch it punch it go like an

inverted pyramid the constant pressure

funnels down let's go wow that coaches

to the players almost all of them are

between 18 and 23 years old take a look

and listen to an average Michigan

practice in August a week before school

even started it resembled a ten ring

circus what didn't get through again

better when it was over ice baths

provided a welcome if brief relief the

truth is being a college football player

these days means a year-round cycle of

practice weightlifting good in offseason

workouts but long hey here were Michigan

players last May training with Navy

SEALs out in San Diego Denard Robinson

the team's star quarterback led the

charge

these are full-time jobs fair to say oh

yeah full-time oh yeah this it is a

full-time job it's a grunt is it's a

ground because you have to do this

because those games at you gonna face

it's gonna take a toll on you and you

know the other reason is because the

guys across from me were doing this same

thing oh yeah remember that Michigan

Alabama game in Dallas

well after a dispiriting loss the

Wolverines didn't return to Ann Arbor

until 5:00 in the morning the end of a

40-hour weekend

last question I want to turn to you on

top of it all the players still had to

be in class on Monday morning that means

even Robinson the unquestioned big man

on campus his number 16 Jersey is the

hottest property in town he's healthy

Robinson's dynamic play has determined

Michigan's fate when he gets hurt the

entire Michigan family holds its

collective breath there's a lot at stake

here do you worry that it's just too

much pressure on these student-athletes

yes I do worry I see kids I see 18 19 20

year old kids we're still trying to

figure out life and figure what they're

about most rabid fans don't see any of

that

no what they're seeing more and more of

is this nail-biting finishes Rome and

Alabama rush

they didn't know my unscripted drama

unbridled passion more than ever

schools going all-in on the high-stakes

game called college foot go to 60

minutes overtime Tom for a star

quarterbacks perspective on football as

a full-time job

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