By Last Updated on March 25, 2012
This week, BusinessofCollegeSports.com showed you the revenues, expenses and net income of athletics departments in the BCS AQ conferences. To conclude this series, BusinessofCollegeSports.com is ranking the top-50 athletics departments with the highest revenues, expenses and net income. In this installment, we will show you which athletics departments spend the most.
The data was obtained from the Department of Education and is from 2010-11. While this data is not perfect, it is the only data publicly available for both public and private institutions.
| School | Athletic Department Expenses | Conference |
| Texas | $125,978,117.00 | Big 12 |
| Ohio State | $113,184,855.00 | Big Ten |
| Florida | $112,951,656.00 | SEC |
| Tennessee | $102,480,757.00 | SEC |
| Auburn | $100,497,784.00 | SEC |
| Oklahoma | $96,274,366.00 | Big 12 |
| LSU | $96,019,689.00 | SEC |
| Michigan | $95,836,991.00 | Big Ten |
| Wisconsin | $92,939,345.00 | Big Ten |
| Alabama | $92,225,560.00 | SEC |
| Iowa | $87,607,487.00 | Big Ten |
| Florida State | $86,946,503.00 | ACC |
| Penn State | $84,498,339.00 | Big Ten |
| Louisville | $83,783,719.00 | Big East |
| South Carolina | $82,941,941.00 | SEC |
| Georgia | $82,765,498.00 | SEC |
| Kentucky | $81,755,641.00 | SEC |
| Stanford | $81,125,476.00 | Pac-12 |
| Arkansas | $80,482,490.00 | SEC |
| Minnesota | $78,924,683.00 | Big Ten |
| Nebraska | $78,509,148.00 | Big Ten |
| USC | $75,707,273.00 | Pac-12 |
| Notre Dame | $75,360,209.00 | Big East |
| Virginia | $72,400,342.00 | ACC |
| Texas A&M | $71,719,872.00 | Big 12 |
| North Carolina | $70,709,553.00 | ACC |
| Kansas | $70,028,683.00 | Big 12 |
| Washington | $69,306,426.00 | Pac-12 |
| Oregon | $67,900,835.00 | Pac-12 |
| Michigan State | $67,450,913.00 | Big Ten |
| Duke | $67,418,981.00 | ACC |
| UCLA | $66,003,893.00 | Pac-12 |
| Indiana | $64,878,825.00 | Big Ten |
| California | $64,825,171.00 | Pac-12 |
| Boston College | $64,078,272.00 | ACC |
| Connecticut | $62,948,800.00 | Big East |
| Clemson | $60,958,659.00 | ACC |
| Baylor | $59,859,235.00 | Big 12 |
| Purdue | $59,293,193.00 | Big Ten |
| Missouri | $58,862,366.00 | Big 12 |
| WVU | $58,003,719.00 | Big East |
| Miami | $57,561,177.00 | ACC |
| Maryland | $57,501,307.00 | ACC |
| Virginia Tech | $56,762,362.00 | ACC |
| Arizona | $56,750,057.00 | Pac-12 |
| Northwestern | $56,214,293.00 | Big Ten |
| Pittsburgh | $56,044,309.00 | Big East |
| Oklahoma State | $55,757,830.00 | Big 12 |
| Illinois | $55,723,771.00 | Big Ten |
| Arizona State | $55,378,783.00 | Pac-12 |
While 80 percent of the Big 12’s members ranked in the top-50 in terms of revenue generated, only 70 percent ranked in the top-50 for expenditures. Thus, it is expected that at least several Big 12 members should generate a net income in the black. Only four Big East members ranked in the top-50 for revenue generated. However, five Big East members ranked in the top-5o for expenditures (Pittsburgh did not generate enough revenue to make the top-50 list, but is on the top-50 list for expenditures). Again, every Big Ten athletics department made the top-50 list for expenditures.
The chart below depicts how many places each conference held in the list and the percentage of the conference which made the list.
| Conference | # of Athletics Departments | % of Conference |
| ACC | 9 | 75% |
| Big 12 | 7 | 70% |
| Big East | 5 | 31% |
| Big Ten | 12 | 100% |
| Pac-12 | 8 | 67% |
| SEC | 9 | 75% |
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