You know how people sometimes say that sports leagues are split into two groups. The haves and the have-nots? ACC Basketball is seriously going to put that into practice next season when the four highest revenue-generating basketball programs in the nation will call the conference home.
ESPN has an infographic up right now breaking down some numbers between the top eight men's college basketball programs by revenue. Blowing everyone out of the water at No. 1 are the Louisville Cardinals, who earned $42.4M last year. The Syracuse Orange were second with $25.9M, followed by the Duke Blue Devils ($25.7M) and North Carolina Tar Heels ($24M). All of whom will be ACC squads as of next season.
According to the numbers in the graphic, and of course you always want to take numbers in things like these with a grain of salt, Syracuse earns 614K for every home game it plays (Thanks, Colgate!), good for fifth on this list.
The graphic also points out that Syracuse's arena capacity is miles ahead of anyone else's (35K), and because of that, they play to the lowest average of arena filled among the eight (64%).
My favorite part of the graphic is, of course, comparing coaches salaries. Boeheim comes in at 7th ($1.9M), just ahead of Roy Williams. Boeheim could command $6-7M if he wanted to, he's certainly earned it, but he won't. It's not something you'll see very often, especially at this level, so it's best to appreciate it now.
Of course, Boeheim will tell you that all of that revenue goes bye-bye to pay for everything else, which may or may not be a dubious statement. Even if those numbers (or his) are fudged, it's a testament to what he's built and how passionate Syracuse fans that we're among the elite schools in the nation financially.
Now let's get back to talking about the student-athletes who actually play the game that earns all this money.
