USC’s economic advantage in the Big Ten
USC is known as a football school. However, USC’s football program isn’t just another sports team — more than 80% of USC’s athletic revenue comes from football. When COVID initially canceled the 2020 season before the players pushed to bring it back, USC Athletic Director Mike Bohn estimated a $50–60 million loss for the university (reignoftroy.com). When football is successful, the school receives an enormous amount of value — both in reputation and in economics.
Although an elite football program, one of USC’s biggest economic downsides was no fault of its own. In fact, it was because of tradition, something USC football especially loves. USC’s membership in the Pacific-12 (PAC-12) Conference annually gave the team around $19.6 million a year from their conference TV deal, which was dead last out of the five biggest conferences in the country (9news.com). Former commissioner Larry Scott decided that although USC was worth an estimated 30% of the PAC-12’s conference value, it still received the same amount of money as a team which only accounted for less than 10% of the value (seattletimes.com). As a result, USC didn’t see much benefit in staying in the PAC-12. The competition wasn’t great and the revenue was even lower. In a surprising move in July, USC announced that it would leave the PAC-12 and join the Big Ten, one of the two most successful football conferences in the country. Tradition-focused fans, many a generation out of college, didn’t want USC to leave. They cited the tradition, classic rivalries, and academic excellence of the PAC-12. However, there was no convincing argument besides the nostalgia to convince USC to stay.
The Big Ten is first in gross revenue ($768.9 million) and first in per-school payouts ($54.3 million) (footballscoop.com). USC and its location in the second-biggest media market in the United States will only add to the conference’s dominance. USC also stands to gain around $80 million annually from the Big Ten, around quadruple what it made in the PAC-12 (washingtonpost.com). There’s no comparison.
Moving to the Big Ten is huge financially for USC for several reasons. This money allows the school to put more money into the facilities for players and fans, which creates a better experience for everyone. Although it isn’t directly correlated with winning, football donors will then want to donate more when they see the school so invested in the team and its success. The competition is also better in the Big Ten, allowing fans to see more marquee matchups that inevitably will cost more per ticket, bringing in more revenue. A USC fan would simply pay more to see USC v. Ohio State instead of USC v. Arizona. Bigger name brands earn large sums of cash.
Football is also a front-facing sport, and if successful, an excellent sports team is just another attractive element of the university for potential students. This is known as the “Flutie Effect,” named after Boston College quarterback Doug Flutie. In 1984, Flutie threw a Hail Mary to beat Miami in a nationally televised game — afterwards, Boston College applications spiked. In 2017, Clemson — a consistent football powerhouse that won the national championship in 2016 — surveyed admitted students and asked about the correlation between the school’s football success and their decision to apply (washingtonpost.com). According to the Washington Post. “thirty percent said it was moderately, very or extremely influential, and another 25 percent said it was slightly influential.” Successful football changes the culture, admission, and revenue at schools.
USC football is one of the only sports on campus to actually make a decent surplus — around $17 million (collegefactual.com). This move to the Big Ten will significantly improve USC’s revenue. The non-traditional move will pay off in the long run.
