Forfbes: Louisville is #1 again, but lead over Kansas is shrinking.
"The Louisville Cardinals are, for the fourth consecutive year, college basketball's most valuable team. But the team's financial success appears to have ebbed for the first time since 2009. This year Louisville is worth $38.3 million, down a hair from last year's $39.5 million valuation. And while the Cardinals have stalled, much of the field is charging hard. The Kansas Jayhawks, the sport's second-most valuable team, are up 7% to $35.4 million. It's the first time that Louisville's lead on the field has fallen beneath $5 million since the team took the top spot in 2012.
Ticket sales were up 11% to $12.8 million and the team also saw slight boosts in contributions and gameday revenue from things like concessions and parking. But NCAA and conference distributions were just $2.8 million, down from $5.8 million the year before, presumably the immediate impact of the Big East's split (the AAC and new Big East split the rights to the old Big East's NCAA conference distributions). Expenses were also up. Payments to the team's coaching staff came to a total $5.7 million, up from $4.7 million the year before. Direct facility and maintenance spending also increased from $4.1 million to $4.5 million.
Meanwhile Kansas saw ticket sales climb to $14.5 million, up from $12.9 million the year before, which accounted for almost the entirety of its year-over-year revenue growth. Profits were further boosted by reduced spending. Last year the team spent $8.5 million, down from $10.7 million the prior year. Once again the vast majority of that change came from a single area. In this case coach Bill Self and his staff saw their total pay fall from $6 million in 2012-13 to $4.2 million last year."
Louisville First Place Lead Shrinking
"The Louisville Cardinals are, for the fourth consecutive year, college basketball's most valuable team. But the team's financial success appears to have ebbed for the first time since 2009. This year Louisville is worth $38.3 million, down a hair from last year's $39.5 million valuation. And while the Cardinals have stalled, much of the field is charging hard. The Kansas Jayhawks, the sport's second-most valuable team, are up 7% to $35.4 million. It's the first time that Louisville's lead on the field has fallen beneath $5 million since the team took the top spot in 2012.
Ticket sales were up 11% to $12.8 million and the team also saw slight boosts in contributions and gameday revenue from things like concessions and parking. But NCAA and conference distributions were just $2.8 million, down from $5.8 million the year before, presumably the immediate impact of the Big East's split (the AAC and new Big East split the rights to the old Big East's NCAA conference distributions). Expenses were also up. Payments to the team's coaching staff came to a total $5.7 million, up from $4.7 million the year before. Direct facility and maintenance spending also increased from $4.1 million to $4.5 million.
Meanwhile Kansas saw ticket sales climb to $14.5 million, up from $12.9 million the year before, which accounted for almost the entirety of its year-over-year revenue growth. Profits were further boosted by reduced spending. Last year the team spent $8.5 million, down from $10.7 million the prior year. Once again the vast majority of that change came from a single area. In this case coach Bill Self and his staff saw their total pay fall from $6 million in 2012-13 to $4.2 million last year."
Louisville First Place Lead Shrinking
