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College football season is almost over but before we bid it adieu…….

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College football game, Syracuse, N.Y. c1908

I’m not a huge sports fan, I watch an occasional game and it seems there are a couple of days each year when all you find on television are football games. New Years day is one of those days (Thanksgiving is another). Knowing that we have a resource guide on the sports industry and that my co-worker (and co-author), Ellen Terrell, has an interest in football we thought a post on the topic might be fun.

Anytime I go looking for information it seems like the Census Bureau always has some little tidbit of information. In this case, in 1985 there were 509 football teams in the NCAA and in 2008 the number had grown to 628 teams. During this same period of time attendance at these games increased by about 40% from 34,952,000 in 1985 to 48,839,000 in 2008. (2010 Statistical Abstract, Table 1207 and 1996 Statistical Abstract, Sec. 7, Table 412)

Also about this time of year sports writers often write about the top programs in terms of revenue. The Equity in Athletics Disclosure Act requires schools to prepare an annual report on their overall revenues to the Department of Education’s Office of Postsecondary Education. The Department of Education created an analysis tool designed to provide customized reports for public inquiries relating to equity in athletics data. Data is available for a single institution or for a group of institutions and searches can be done geographically, by sanctioning body or by a particular conference.

In terms of revenue the Bowl Champion Series (BCS) is a whole different ball game (the pun really wasn’t intended but did seem to fit). For those of you who didn’t know, the BCS is a 5-game system formed in 1998 and managed by the 11 Division I-A conferences, and is designed to match the two top rated teams in a national championship game.

For further research, the resources found in our guide on professional football should be useful.

Many thanks to Ellen Terrell, my co-author for this post.

Comments (10)

  1. Cool story as for me. I’d like to read something more concerning this theme. Thank you for posting this material.

  2. It is certainly interesting for me to read the article. Thank you for it. I like such themes and anything that is connected to this matter. I would like to read more on that blog soon.

    Sincerely yours

  3. Pretty cool site you’ve got here. Thanx for it. I like such topics and everything connected to this matter. I definitely want to read more soon.

    Best regards

  4. Nice post as for me. I’d like to read a bit more concerning that topic. Thnx for sharing this material.

  5. I’m agree with The Department of Education created an analysis tool designed to provide customized reports for public inquiries relating to equity in athletics data. I think this’s good idea.
    I hope College football game can grow in the future. nice story as for us n me.

  6. I have a presentation incoming week, and I am on the lookout for such information.

  7. Hello Donna,

    College football stories and other sports are always good stuff to read about. Thanks also for adding BCS to your blog. I think it’s interesting to know about the organizations that influence these sports.

    Michelle
    Webmaster of Laminator Machine

  8. I love your blog,
    keeping post more articles.

    thanks,

    Sam

  9. If you look at college athletics, especially football, you have to wonder where all the money is going. For Penn State to be able to afford to pay $60 million in damages is just mind-boggling. The focus needs to be on the kids and grades, not the $$$$$. If you look at http://SEC12.com and see the cathedrals being built on college campuses these days, it definetely makes you wonder. The BCS has been very kind to them.

    Wonderful article.

    Rob

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