On Iowa Daily Briefing 5.16.12 -- Financial disparity among B1G schools' football programs

As the Big Ten meetings wind down today (and playoff talk around the country ramps up), it's important to look at what's most important to the league and its member institutions: money.

Every public Big Ten athletics department (11 schools) achieved the gold standard of college sports by equaling revenue and expenses in fiscal year 2011. Those schools submitted that information to The Gazette this spring through each state's open-records laws.

The bottom line for Big Ten schools has three major power surges helping it achieve and sustain financial success: league/NCAA revenue (TV, etc.), contributions and football revenue. Each school earns roughly the same amount in league/NCAA revenue depending on tournament reimbursements and other issues. Contributions will vary among the schools, soaring if there's a facility drive, slipping if there's not. Football, however, is the driving force for on-campus, athletics department revenue, so let's look at this a little more closely.

In fiscal year 2011, Ohio State ($79.3 million) and Michigan ($70.3 million) blazed past their Big Ten brethren in football revenue. Trailing way behind are Illinois ($28.3 million), Indiana ($24.4 million) and Purdue ($18.3 million). We in the media endlessly have discussed and written about the financial disparity among Big 12 and other conferences, but this is just as real in Big Ten country. The only difference is the league/NCAA revenue-sharing structure enacted by the Big Ten.

Those numbers won't fall for the league powerhouses and maybe the bottom ones will climb if any of the three schools gain some football traction and consistency. But don't expect the gap to close too soon between the heavyweights and welterweights.

Football revenues and expenses for the 2011 fiscal year:

• Ohio State: $79,339,962/$39,217,983
• Michigan: $70,300,676/$23,552,233
• Penn State: $58,893,006/$15,049,592
• Nebraska: $54,748,156/$20,147,302
• Michigan State: $45,041,806/$18,913,908
• Iowa: $44,506,833/$20,510,805
• Wisconsin: $43,296,598/$23,662,925
• Minnesota: $30,524,946/$16,985,183
• Illinois: $28,353,822/$14,146,821
• Indiana: $24,379,333/$16,175,386
• Purdue: $18,359,413/$12,420,742
• Northwestern N/A

Perhaps even more telling are football ticket sales. Nothing shows a fan base's commitment to their program quite like how they purchase tickets and fill their stadiums. It doesn't take Christopher Columbus to discover a sold-out 105,000-seat stadium (ironically in Columbus) generates more revenue than one in Indiana (where people literally wonder, "Who's here?"). But the disparity still is somewhat staggering.

Big Ten's ticket sales for 2011 fiscal year:

• Ohio State $41,885,216
• Michigan $35,747,432
• Penn State $34,232,483
• Nebraska $27,378,667
• Iowa $20,272,653
• Wisconsin $18,285,170
• Michigan State $16,877139
• Minnesota $10,787,667
• Purdue $10,239,049
• Illinois $9,426,634
• Indiana $4,711,558
• Northwestern N/A-

CHAIN LINKS

-- Incoming freshman running back Barkley Hill of Cedar Falls is built to come in and make the transition both mentally and physically.

Sez who? Sez his soon-to-be Iowa football coach, Kirk Ferentz. Those were Ferentz's exact words at the I-Club event in Waterloo Monday night.

-- New Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby talked optimistically about smooth water Tuesday, but college athletics isn't some placid lake in Texas

and Bowlsby knows it. He said:

"I think the topic of expansion will be on every agenda going forward. But it's on every other conference's agenda going forward, too."

-- Flying in the face of the wishes of Iowa Athletic Director Gary Barta and some of his Big Ten peers, Iowa State football coach Paul Rhoads said he strongly favors bowl-eligibility not being changed from six to seven wins.

The guess here is Rhoads speaks for a lot of coaches.

-- Andrew Sweat started at linebacker for Ohio State the last two years. He signed as an undrafted free agent and went to rookie camp with the Cleveland Browns last month, but then bid the gridiron adieu. His Monday tweet at @asweat42:

"Concussion symptoms didn't want to risk it.. Thanks to the browns for the opportunity. Health trumps football any day"

-- Buzz Bissinger wrote one of the great sports books of any time two decades ago. It is called "Friday Night Lights."

Bissinger has what sounds like another terrific read in "Father's Day," a story of his relationship with his son Zach, now in his 20s, whose brain was deprived of oxygen at birth and who has an IQ of about 70. The two went on a cross-country trip together, including a stop back in Odessa, Texas, where "Friday Night Lights" was set.

It does not sound anything close to overly sentimental, but rather, painfully honest. I look forward to reading it.

-- Dochterman and Morehouse were in Chicago this week for the Big Ten meetings. (Well, they weren't in the actual meetings, but you know what I mean). They may not have heard this while they've been there:

Wrigley Field must be destroyed.