Michigan projects over $50M in Big Ten revenue while Rutgers projects nearly $40M less
The difference between what Michigan and Rutgers estimate they will make from the Big Ten in the next fiscal year is approximately $10 million greater than the revenue each Big 12 team received in 2015-16.
The gap is also $10 million more than Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James’ salary the past season and more than three times Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry’s salary.
Yeah, it’s a heck of a lot of money.
According to MLive.com, Michigan projects revenues of approximately $51 million for the 2017-18 fiscal year. Meanwhile, per NJ.com, Rutgers is thinking it’ll be getting less than $12 million.
The increase in revenue for Michigan (and other mainstay Big Ten teams) is one of approximately $15 million from the conference’s previous revenue reports. It’s largely due to the Big Ten’s new television contract which will have more games on Fox in 2017 and beyond. Fox is also a half-owner of the Big Ten Network.
Rutgers’ revenue may be staggering, but not surprising in comparison. It pales to long-term Big Ten teams because of the terms of its agreement with the Big Ten to join the conference. When Rutgers joined the Big Ten before the 2014 season, the agreement stated that the Scarlet Knights (and Maryland, which joined at the same time), wouldn’t receive full revenue shares for six years.
And once the revenue faucet turns on full bore for Rutgers, the school will have some debt to pay. In January, Rutgers took out a loan against its full revenue shares to help pay for a near-$40 million shortfall in the 2016 fiscal year.
“The university is demonstrating a commitment to success in the Big Ten,” Rutgers athletic director Pat Hobbs told NJ.com at the time. “They recognize that we can’t simply wait until 2021. We have to gain competitiveness now. With an expectation and some certainty around future stream of payments, you can model that financially where it allows us to make investments today that we’ll pay off in the future.”
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Nick Bromberg is the editor of Dr. Saturday and From the Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
