Study: Arizona, ASU football rank in top 5 percentile of operating profits

The Arizona State and University of Arizona football programs produced greater operating profits than 95 percent of colleges last year, an analysis found.

Arizona football made $39.6 million in operating profit and ASU football made $37.9 million, according to the Equity in Athletics Data Analysis from the U.S. Department of Education.

Those rank No. 36 and 39, respectively, a Phoenix Business Journal study consisting of 885 institutions discovered.

Both programs greatly exceeded the average operating profit of $5.24 million, the Business Journal found.

ASU has consistently broken its revenue records since implementing a $75-per-semester student athletic fee in 2014 and signing its Adidas deal that began in July 2015.

The Sun Devil athletics program brought in just below $99 million in total revenue last year, which broke its record of $94.6 million that had been set the year before, according to the State Press.

The EIAD reported that ASU athletics turned a profit of about $2.7 million.

Meanwhile, the Arizona athletic department has a long history of turning a profit, according to Cronkite News, and its revenue has increased since instituting a student athletic fee after the 2016-17 school year.

Students who already attended the university were not required to pay, so as of the 2018-19 school year, freshmen and sophomores paid a $50-per-semester undergraduate fee and graduate students had an optional $50 cost that would allow them certain privileges.

Overall, the athletic program brought in a revenue just over $88 million last year, the EIAD found, the most since 2014. It turned a total profit of about $8 million.

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