Big 12 revenue rankings from Omaha World Herald

[HandSanitizer]

Something is really wrong if KU, Colorado, KSU, Texas T, OSU and Mizzou are that much ahead of us. Some of those schools have don't get any one to their football or basketball games. They must have really good donations.

[CloneAggie]

Originally Posted by goldmember

We may have the highest ticket price based on face value, but Texas, Texas A&M, Nebraska etc. require huge donations in order to buy tickets. Once this amount is factored into the equation, ISU moves down the list.

I can't speak for other schools, but that doesn't appear to be the case at A&M. You can be part of the 12th Man Foundation and donate money, which should get you better seats. But you don't have to do that in order to get season tickets (at least right now).

[EggMcClone]

I have to think the big difference is in donations. KU's AD really shook things up when he came in a few years ago so to get basketball seats at all you need to give quite a bit more than you used to and to get the best seats you have to pay a LOT. It's been controversial but their revenues have gone way up and they're putting it all back into their football facilities (and Bill Self's salary, I guess). I can't even imagine the numbers they'll have after this year...

[MontyBurns]

Originally Posted by CloneAggie

I can't speak for other schools, but that doesn't appear to be the case at A&M. You can be part of the 12th Man Foundation and donate money, which should get you better seats. But you don't have to do that in order to get season tickets (at least right now).

All of the schools (including ISU) require donations for premium seats, but only Nebraska and Oklahoma require donations for every seat. They're also the only two schools with a waiting list for season tickets.

[MontyBurns]

Originally Posted by HandSanitizer

Something is really wrong if KU, Colorado, KSU, Texas T, OSU and Mizzou are that much ahead of us. Some of those schools have don't get any one to their football or basketball games. They must have really good donations.

It's not the "seating" donations of sticking ordinary fans with an extra $100, $500, or $1,000 per year that's creating the gap between us and the top schools -- it's the fact that we have no mega-donors. Hell, our season ticket prices and required donations for both football and basketball are now significantly higher than Iowa's and their athletic revenue will be about twice as much as ours in 2008 anyway. The difference is they have the Carver family, the Krause family, the Gerdin family, etc., who will all readily fork over $5 million or more for about any project that comes along. Texas & Oklahoma probably have oil-rich donors who make Iowa's donors look like homeless people. We have never cultivated individual or corporate donors who can begin to match that.

[54cy]

I could be wrong on this, but I remember hearing that since we don't have the rights to Hilton, we don't receive revenue from advertisements and only a portion of the money generated by con. stands. This might be a small piece to the puzzle.

[Kyle]

Originally Posted by MontyBurns

It's not the "seating" donations of sticking ordinary fans with an extra $100, $500, or $1,000 per year that's creating the gap between us and the top schools -- it's the fact that we have no mega-donors. Hell, our season ticket prices and required donations for both football and basketball are now significantly higher than Iowa's and their athletic revenue will be about twice as much as ours in 2008 anyway. The difference is they have the Carver family, the Krause family, the Gerdin family, etc., who will all readily fork over $5 million or more for about any project that comes along. Texas & Oklahoma probably have oil-rich donors who make Iowa's donors look like homeless people. We have never cultivated individual or corporate donors who can begin to match that.

I think there is probably a lot of merit to this argument. A lot of schools have larger regular donors. If I remember right, NCC memberships have climbed to a respectable number, but we average a very low donation per member. I've always thought that Iowa had a bit of an advantage in having the med school and the law school, which produce a lot of rich alumni. One rich oil tycoon was enough to finance state of the art facilities at Oklahoma State, and I'm betting most of the Texas schools have some oil money helping them out.

Maybe if we're lucky we will see an increase in donations from ag alumni due to the currently favorable grain markets...

[kingcy]

Didnt JP change somethings last year accounting wise? Like putting season ticket money in the corrct year. Last year there was not season ticket money due to this. Last years was on the prev years books and this coming years is on the current years books, I think. Not sure how the NCC money was handled but that all changed some as well.

[chinapuck]

Not sure what the numbers are today, but a few years back the Iowa State Men's Hockey team brought in more money than all but three varsity sports (football, men's and women's basketball). The team also spent less than the other varsity sports...

Also found this stat interesting since somebody mentioned that we have the lowest number of men's sports allowed....

[cy1225]

Originally Posted by MontyBurns

There is virtually no correlation between ticket prices and revenue. In 2008 we will have the highest priced tickets in the Big 12 and we will still be last or next-to-last in total athletic revenue.

2008 Football Season Ticket Prices (disregarding end zone or standing-room-only tickets):

School # of home games Season Price Price per game

Iowa State 6 $350 $58.33
Texas A&M 7 $399 $57.00
Texas 7 $385 $55.00
Texas Tech 7 $350 $50.00
Missouri 6 $280 $46.67
Nebraska 8 $364 $45.50 (sold out)
Kansas 7 $300 $42.86
Kansas State 7 $300 $42.86
Oklahoma State 7 $294 $42.00
Colorado 6 $245 $40.83
Baylor 7 $265 $37.86
Oklahoma 6 n/a (sold out)

Wow...I had no idea ISU was the highest price season ticket for football.

[cybsball20]

Originally Posted by chinapuck

Not sure what the numbers are today, but a few years back the Iowa State Men's Hockey team brought in more money than all but three varsity sports (football, men's and women's basketball). The team also spent less than the other varsity sports...

Also found this stat interesting since somebody mentioned that we have the lowest number of men's sports allowed....

That would be easy when you have beer sales and no coaches salaries or scholarships to pay out...

[Wesley]

Originally Posted by HandSanitizer

Something is really wrong if KU, Colorado, KSU, Texas T, OSU and Mizzou are that much ahead of us. Some of those schools have don't get any one to their football or basketball games. They must have really good donations.

Big donors are the key. Ames may have few big donors than te other schools. When your main cry to big donor fame may be Hooters, you may be on the short end of the donation stick.

[garn91]

Originally Posted by cybsball20

How does Nebraska baseball not make at least a little money? They must have a terrible lease at Haymarket Park, they get abour 7k a game and have at least 15 games a year on National TV.

when you factor in all of the travel and hotel expenses that are associated with college baseball, the numbers adds up fast. Not to mention, Nebraska has lost at least 3 games due to weather and alot of the midweek games only draw a couple of thousand.

[The_Architect]

Originally Posted by cybsball20

That would be easy when you have beer sales and no coaches salaries or scholarships to pay out...

Exactly.

[cycloneryan]

When a big state school gets beat by Baylor by 4 million dollars I think there is a problem.