NCAA Softball Is Now A Revenue Sport. . . Really!

LSU, UNO, Loyola, ULL, ULM, Louisiana Tech, Southeastern, Delgado, Northwestern, McNeese, Nicholls St., Southern, Grambling, Centenary, Dilliard, Xavier, etc.
Post Reply
cajunfanatico
Swell
Posts: 1313
Joined: Wed Jul 16, 2014 10:10 am
Status: Offline

People tend to divide college sports into revenue producing sports and non-revenue producing sports. For many people, the list of sports that generate revenue include football and men's basketball. Which means the list of non-revenue sports is everything else.

The data, though, tells a very different story. According to the Department of Education, college softball teams reported $450 million in revenue in 2016-17 (the last year data has been reported). The top school listed -- Florida State (the 2018 NCAA champions) -- reported $2.2 million in softball revenues. Baylor University also reported $2.2 million in revenue and 42 additional programs reported more than $1 million in revenues.

When we look at all college sports, we see that only three men's sports -- football, men's basketball, and baseball -- report larger revenues than women's softball. The Department of Education reports revenue on at least 30 men's college sports, so at least 27 men's college sports are not doing as well today at women's softball.

To put softball's growth in perspective, let's look at a few other sports. According to the Department of Education, revenue in men's college basketball grew from $1.1 billion (adjusted for inflation) in 2003-04 to $2.0 billion in 2016-17. This is an 83.9 percent increase in revenues.

When we look at football and men's baseball, the growth in revenues was 115.8 percent and 185 percent respectively. In women's basketball, revenues grew 158.3 percent. But in women's softball, total reported revenues grew by 217.4 percent. Yes, softball is growing faster than all these sports.

https://www.softballamerica.com/stories ... nue-sport/


ajcalhoun: Nobody here gives a flying fuck about UL-L and the Sunbelt Conference.
DfromCT
Wild Pelican
Posts: 13002
Joined: Tue Dec 27, 2011 1:50 pm
Location: Stamford, CT
Status: Offline

That's nice.

I've watched bits and pieces of games. But I'll watch a full softball game maybe the next time I watch an NBA game start to finish....which hasn't happened since Bird and Magic retired. Next.
" If you laugh, you think, and you cry, that's a full day.." Jimmy V
cajunfanatico
Swell
Posts: 1313
Joined: Wed Jul 16, 2014 10:10 am
Status: Offline

DfromCT wrote: Thu Feb 14, 2019 2:11 pm That's nice.

I've watched bits and pieces of games. But I'll watch a full softball game maybe the next time I watch an NBA game start to finish....which hasn't happened since Bird and Magic retired. Next.
It's all about keeping fan support high all year Dave. It's a shame that Tulane is landlocked with no room for an on-campus softball field because it would be a huge hit with students and the locals. It'd be so easy to recruit top talent to New Orleans. Softball is absolutely a growing sport when other college athletic programs are struggling to maintain fan interest.

IIRC, the Cajun softball team averages about 1500 paying fans per game. That's not chicken feed and beats many D-1 baseball program average attendance.
ajcalhoun: Nobody here gives a flying fuck about UL-L and the Sunbelt Conference.
Post Reply