@nilnomics
NILnomics is an indepenent, data-driven newsletter uncovering the real numbers behind college sports finances with sharp insights, clear visuals, and exclusive datasets. Subscribe here -> www.newsletter.nilnomics.com
All of this is in this week’s NILnomics — it’s data-driven, plenty of fun, and always free.
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🤝 Collab: @sickoscommittee.org
🏒 College Hockey Revenue Trends (FY17–24)
Gopher ticket sales are down big
@umassamherst.bsky.social? Tripled revenue
Miami (OH)? Cut by more than half
Current champs Western Michigan? Under $500k 🤯
👰 Mascot Wedding Appearances
@sickoscommittee.org collected the data. We visualized it.
@michiganstatefb.bsky.social and @oregonduckfootball.bsky.social mascots cost ~$1500/hour.
Louisiana Monroe and Ace the Warhawk? $25.
What a time to be alive.
The gap between the top B1G school (Ohio State: 7.2M) and the bottom (@northwestern : 265k) is massive.
Maybe it’s time to rethink those comms org charts?
📊 Social Media Rankings
Which schools dominate in followers?
Spoiler: @ohiostatefb.bsky.social , @umichfootball.bsky.social , and @oregonduckfootball.bsky.social are huge—but Clemson and Colorado crack the top 11.
G5 rep? @BroncoSports leads, but @OregonState is right there.
Did we forget to update here on Bluesky? Oops!
New NILnomics is out:
We added up the social media reach of every D1 school 🧠📱
Plus:
Mascot wedding costs (yep)
College hockey ticket trends
And our first-ever collab with @sickoscommittee.org
www.newsletter.nilnomics.com/p/social-med...
That's all for this week. Check out the issue for more details, the site for the code, and the Kaggle for the data.
And if you're not already subscribed, click below.
See you next week!
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Then I have to finish what I started last week, where I visualized the capacity of the highest ticket revenue public schools in Division I hockey. This week I expand the analysis, adding ALL DI hockey.
Here's the results:
Athletic directors have a lot of tough decisions, chief among them: how much 💵 to allocate to each sport?
Using the latest EADA data, here's the breakdown for this year's @ncaabaseball.bsky.social / softball World Series
This week's issue of NILnomics is live!
In this week's issue, we look into:
⚾️The % of athletic budgets dedicated to baseball/softball🥎
🏒Looking at the capacity of ALL Division I hockey barns
Let's look at some highlights.
www.newsletter.nilnomics.com/p/man-of-the...
That's it for this week. Read the article for more insight and subscribe to get each issue in your inbox!
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Lastly, we put last weeks Division I Men's Ice Hockey 🏒 ticket sales in context by putting them alongside Football 🏈.
Thoughts?
-Diverse students (especially in a post affirmative action world)
-Legacy students (easy place to hide rich alums' academically unqualified kids)
-For sale enrollments (see: Varsity Blues scandal)
What makes more sense to you?
Why doesn't the Ivy League Conference want to opt-in to the House settlement?
You could believe them when they say it's about “academic primacy” & focusing on the “student-athlete experience."
Or maybe the loss of roster spots (of which there'd be many) will reduce their ability to enroll...
We examine the impact of roster limits on the Ivy League conference, the only Division I conference (so far) to decide not to opt-in to the House settlement.
Why would they do that?
First, let's look at their roster data, based on data scraped from their website:
This week's issue is out now!
We take a look at:
🏃♂️Roster limit impacts to the Ivy League Conference
🏒Men's Division I Ice Hockey vs Football ticket sales comparison
🧵Let's get into it.
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If you like what we're doing, please like, follow, and subscribe here on @bsky.app and to the newsletter.
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And that's a wrap! To dig into the analysis more, please check out this week's post.
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Lastly, we're back onto college hockey. Here is FY 2023's ticket sale revenue generated by DI Men's Ice Hockey programs:
Let's drill down. Many school's entire pool revenue is less than the cap, some it's a pittance of their budget. For those 25 schools where the $20.5 million cap is less than 22% of their pool revenue, exactly what % does it make up?
Next, we took a look at the salary cap. Institutions will spend $20.5 million next fall, a whole 22% of the average P5 "pool revenue" (consists of ticket sales, media rights, game guarantees, licensing/sponsorships/royalties). How does that cap look compared to school's revenue?
The schools with the most roster spots being removed changed dramatically. Suddenly, Ivy League schools are standing toe-to-toe with the top FBS programs along a metric.
This added to the number of male and female athletes facing a loss of roster spots, but disproportionately impacting men:
First, we added FCS schools to the analysis. This now shows the potential roster spot losses across DI:
The newest issue of NILnomics is live! In this week's issue, we break down:
🏃♂️Additional roster spot losses breakdown
💸 Look at salary caps vs pool revenue of schools
🏒 Ticket sales for DI men's hockey teams
As always, data and code are provided. Let's get into it!
If you're still reading, make sure to read the article and subscribe for future issues. Thanks!
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This issue also includes a deep dive into the top 10 revenue-generating schools in college athletics.
But that’s not all—don’t miss our analysis of the 2024 Frozen Four teams. Trust me, the results will surprise you! 🏒💰
With thousands of athletes projected to lose roster spots, it’s worth asking: Which schools are hit hardest?
We tallied the numbers to show where the biggest drops are expected.
Here's the breakdown: 📉🏫
Breaking down lost roster spots is only part of the story. Each lost spot belongs to a team — and every team is classified as either men’s or women’s.
So, which side of college sports is most impacted by these cuts?
We dug into the data to find out. 📊👇
The House settlement could usher in major change, but a quiet clause on roster limits might disrupt the case. We have crunched the numbers no one else has to show you how many athletes are losing roster spots: