Forbes: Most Valuable College Basketball Teams

[Sir Lawrence]

Article link:  http://www.forbes.com/2009/03/16/most-valuable-college-basketball-teams-business-sports-final-four.html

This is the second year that Forbes magazine ranks the most valuable college basketball teams, based on  (1) the value of contributions from the basketball program to the institution for academic purposes, including scholarships for basketball players; (2) the net profit generated by the basketball program retained by the athletic department; (3) the value contributed to conference peers via post-season tournament revenue; (4) estimated direct spending by visitors to the county attributable to home basketball games. Operating income figures listed are the team's revenues less their operating expense.

The sources they use:

Sources: U.S. Department of Education; the Universities; Local Chambers of Commerce and Visitors & Convention Bureaus; NCAA; IMG College; Collegiate Licensing Company; Economy.com.

From the article:

Captured among revenues are ticket and concession sales, basketball broadcasting and sponsorship agreements, scheduling guarantees and money generated from hosting pre-season tournaments. Also included are donations that are required by some athletic departments in order to purchase season tickets. These "gifts" are significant--in some cases they add up to more than $7 million a year--and are often hidden within departmental accounting.

Since you have to wait through the annoying list "in pictures," here's their top 20 (which all they give us):

1.  UNC
2.  Kentucky
3.  Louisville
4.  Indiana
5.  Kansas
6.  Arizona
7.  Illinois
8.  Duke
9.  Maryland
10.  Ohio State
11.  Wisconsin
12.  Syracuse
13.  UCLA
14.  Michigan State
15.  Arkansas
16.  UNLV (They charge up to $100,000 for courtside seat licenses)
17.  Xavier (!?!?!?)
18.  NC State
19.  Wake Forest
20.  Pitt

[Marquette Mama]

When we did the college tour of Xavier's campus a few years ago, I was surprised at how commercial their campus arena is.  Commercially licensed name (Cintas Center), 22 luxury boxes leased to corporations, dining venues etc.  More like the Bradley Center than the Al, altough it seats about 11,000.  Tour guide said the program gets a lot of interest from Cinci area at large because there is no NBA team in town. 

[ChicosBailBonds]

When we did the college tour of Xavier's campus a few years ago, I was surprised at how commercial their campus arena is.  Commercially licensed name (Cintas Center), 22 luxury boxes leased to corporations, dining venues etc.  More like the Bradley Center than the Al, altough it seats about 11,000.  Tour guide said the program gets a lot of interest from Cinci area at large because there is no NBA team in town. 

That's why I would LOVE to see the Bucks leave Milwaukee and head to Louisville.

I know there are people that claim having the Bucks in town helps MU, but there are plenty of outstanding programs that don't have an NBA franchise that do every bit as well as MU or better without sharing an NBA team in the same city.