Big Red Business: Baseball's financial scorecard

Quick Cornhusker quiz: What sport at Nebraska annually ranks in the top ten or close to it nationwide in ticket revenue, yet is unprofitable?

The answer: Baseball.

Nebraska generated $807,316 in revenue from baseball ticket sales for the 2018 season, the latest available figures. That placed Nebraska in the top ten, mainly behind baseball crazy schools in the SEC and ACC.

“Give or take a couple of spots, we are in that range” annually, said John Jentz, the athletic department’s chief financial officer.

Ticket revenue at 8,500-seat Haymarket Park even exceeded $1 million in 2015, but Jentz said he’s not “concerned about a negative trend because the number of home games and weather impact this figure.”

Despite strong fan support, Nebraska baseball is year in, year out a money loser, just like the vast majority of NCAA Division I schools.

Besides selling tickets, Nebraska’s baseball program generates additional revenue from suites and sponsorships at Haymarket Park along with concessions.

For the 2018 season, total revenue reached $2.59 million, but expenses were $2.9 million, resulting in a deficit of about $300,000.

Even during the Dave Van Horn era at Nebraska when the team made back-to-back College World Series appearances in 2001 and 2002, Jentz believes baseball didn’t turn a profit.

“We are not a typical business trying to make each sport profitable,” Jentz said. “We are mindful of expenses, and look to generate revenues needed to accomplish our mission.”

For Jentz, every dollar of revenue has a purpose. “Our focus is on accomplishing the overall mission of the department, allocating resources accordingly across all areas, and prioritizing revenue to pay for it all.”

Even in the SEC, baseball is a losing sport for most of the schools. LSU is an exception, running one of the most profitable baseball programs in the country. Arkansas, Texas A&M, Vanderbilt, Mississippi and Mississippi State have had profitable seasons too, though not consistently.

Several years ago, the NCAA estimated that less than 10 percent of the approximately 300 Division I baseball programs nationally turned a profit, but officials also noted that number was probably closer to 5 percent.

But the financial equation is changing. Nebraska and many other schools are now investing more heavily in their baseball programs. From coaches’ salaries to new ballparks to recruiting, big money trickles down from football and basketball television contract deals, and other conference revenue-sharing. It remains to be seen whether all this spending will translate into profits.

Certainly, Nebraska has opened up the vault with the hiring this month of Will Bolt as head baseball coach. The former Nebraska star will earn $300,000 annually over five years, making him the highest paid baseball coach in school history.

Former head coach Darin Erstad was paid $224,952, but that’s a low market figure he accepted largely because of the money he’d made as a major league player. His predecessor Mike Anderson made $227,122 in his final season at NU in 2011. Dave Van Horn was paid $140,000 in 2002.

While Erstad worked with a salary pool of $350,000 for his staff, Bolt will have at least that much to work with. New assistant coaches Jeff Christy and Lance Harvell are each slated to make $175,000 in base pay.

And with a new coaching staff and more dollars at stake comes higher expectations.

Financially speaking, Nebraska is competitive with conference schools, said Jentz.

“Historical investment in baseball in relation to Big Ten peers suggests we have been and will continue to compete at the highest level,” he said.

Haymarket Park may be one of the best collegiate baseball stadiums to watch a game, but there are limits to how much revenue Nebraska can generate for it's home games to pull down to its bottom line.

The athletic department gets ticket and parking revenue, and it does take in some but not all of the suite and in-stadium advertising revenue. Nebraska also follows the same revenue model in baseball that it does in football and basketball, meaning many seats require a donation on top of the ticket price.

The baseball program also gets a portion of the revenue from concession sales.

Both the baseball and women’s softball programs get to use the stadium rent-free. And by not being the owner and operator of Haymarket, the athletic department does save on the expense side, Jentz said.

Corporate naming rights? Nebraska has not done that with any of its athletic facilities, and Jentz said there are no plans to go in that direction. Pinnacle Bank Arena, home to men’s basketball, is owned by Pinnacle Bancorp.

Jentz also said there are no plans to try to restructure its deal on Haymarket.

Oregon State won the College World Series a year ago, yet was a loser on financial scorecards.

For the 2018 season, the Beavers generated about $1.3 million in revenue, but had expenses of nearly $3 million, an athletic department spokesman said.

Closer to home in the Big Ten conference, Iowa generated ticket income of about $59,000 last year. But baseball “didn’t generate more income than expenses and historically that has been the case,” an athletic department spokesman said.

Minnesota reported $36,392 in ticket sales in 2018, but no profit. Illinois does not charge for tickets to Illini baseball games.

What’s the game plan for turning baseball into a moneymaker? Spending more.

Take the SEC, where some schools in recent years have poured money into new baseball stadiums that at the very least rival those of professional AAA minor league fields.

Florida, for example, is building a new 7,000-seat stadium that will feature at least four varieties of premium seating, indoor-outdoor access, and mostly covered seating to give fans a break from the Florida sun.

Florida has estimated that ticketing revenue in the new stadium will triple from the current estimated $500,000 a year.

It’s also becoming more common for the top schools to follow the same revenue model in baseball that they do in football and basketball, meaning most of the seats require a donation on top of the ticket price.

Kentucky’s former home field had no premium seating. In the Wildcats’ new Kentucky Proud Park, season-ticket prices on club seats are $133 each and the corresponding per-seat donation is $375 for a total investment of $508 per seat. All 140 club seats were sold out for the 2019 season.

Baseball observers say that while most of the top SEC programs aren’t turning a regular profit, but are making enough to cover the growing costs of coaches’ salaries, chartered flights and the debt on these newer facilities. Most of the top SEC programs fly a private chartered plane for road series. Nebraska typically only does it once a year when final exams might play a factor, or when commercial flights are hard to come by to reach places like State College.

Bolt may be the highest paid head baseball coach in Nebraska history, but his salary is not near the top in the Big Ten conference.

That distinction is believed to belong to Michigan's Erik Bakich, who earns about $400,000 annually, and Ohio State’s Greg Beals, who draws a salary of about $472,000, according to published reports. Bakich is set to receive a major pay increase after this year, as the Wolverines are currently playing for the national championship in Omaha.

Among other conference schools that responded to requests for salary information, Illinois said it pays longtime Illinois head coach Dan Hartleb $350,000 annually. Iowa pays head coach Rick Heller $325,000, and Minnesota’s head coach draws an annual base paycheck of $231,800.

In addition, Minnesota pays its assistants a combined $129,500. Iowa has a salary pool of $175,000 for assistant coaches and pays $50,000 to the baseball director of operations.

Where does Bolt’s salary stand in terms of the top-tier baseball programs?

It’s not even close to what the biggest spenders pay. Not surprisingly, the highest coaching salaries in the Power Five conferences are primarily in the SEC, the ACC, the PAC-12, and the Big 12, according to publicly available data.

Florida baseball coach Kevin O’Sullivan appears to be at the top of the list, earning about $1.25 million after a raise kicked in two years ago.

At Arkansas, former Nebraska head coach Dave Van Horn has annual salary and compensation of $925,000, plus performance incentives. The Razorbacks’ in 2018 extended Van Horn’s contract through the 2023 season.

In the Big 12, Texas Tech recently rewarded head coach Tim Tadlock with a seven-year contract that pays him about $1 million annually through 2025. Tadlock earns a base salary of $300,000, but $700,000 in various fees and bonuses generate the bump up.

Other schools shelling out $1 million or more or close to it for their head baseball coaches include TCU, Texas A&M, Texas, and Louisville.

Even in those conferences, the salary range from top to bottom is quite stunning. In the Big 12, for example, the salary gap is quite wide between Texas Tech, TCU and Texas at the top and West Virginia, Kansas State and Oklahoma at the bottom.

West Virginia’s head coach earns $360,000, Kansas State pays $375,000 and Oklahoma $383,000, according to published reports. Still, those coaches out-earn what NU will pay Bolt.

Questions, comments, story ideas? Steve Rosen covers the business of sports for HuskerOnline.com. Reach him at sbrosen1030@gmail.com.