Times can be tough for college football fans and programs, but no program is getting the most bang for their buck than Cincinnati.
According to a report published by Forbes, Cincinnati is college football’s most successfully economic college football program. How you define success is arbitrary of course, but the report makes note of Cincinnati’s spending being among the nation’s lowest when looking at just the ACC, American, Big 12, Big Ten, Pac 12 and SEC. Only 12 programs have won more games than Cincinnati this season, which helps lead Forbes to suggesting Cincinnati is spending wiser than most other programs around the country. Cincinnati actually spent more to run their program this season than in past years but still came out on top thanks to a 9-win season.
After doing some number crunching and taking in to account the buyout price tag that came with head coach Tommy Tuberville from Texas Tech, Cincinnati came out on top of this year’s list from Forbes, knocking off the always thrifty Kansas State from the top spot. this is the first time in the brief three-year study Kansas State has not been on top of the ranking. Kansas State was bumped down to second. The ranking is based on the calculated cost per win. Cincinnati is reported to have spent $1,463,280 per win. Pac 12 champion Stanford is ranked third in the list and is followed by Big 12 champion Baylor and Oregon.
The worst program in the country when it comes to spending money was Kansas. The Jayhawks, winners of three games this season, spent just over $8 million per win this season, according to the report. They were followed by Colorado, California, Kentucky and Auburn.
That’s right. The SEC champions were among the worst at spending wisely according to Forbes. Over the last three seasons only Alabama has spent more to run their football program, according to Forbes, but the Crimson Tide have a couple of BCS championships to show for it. Auburn will get their chance to add another BCS championship to the equation, and if the Tigers top Florida State in Pasadena the odds are pretty good every Auburn fan will say it was all worth every penny.
