Has college football become a campus commodity?
The following script is from "The College Game" which aired on Nov. 18, 2012. Armen Keteyian is the correspondent. Draggan Mihailovich, producer.
Turn on the television almost any day this week and you'll find a college football game. And there's a good reason why: the popularity and importance of the sport is at an all-time high. That's because for more and more universities across the country success on the football field now equals a higher profile for the entire school. This has fueled an arms race in the college game, the likes of which the sport has never seen. And with a lucrative national playoff beginning in 2015, that race will only accelerate.
Just how essential is college football these days? Well, judge for yourself, as we take you on the road, and behind the scenes, beginning in Michigan Stadium, in a place they call "The Big House."
A fall Saturday in Ann Arbor, Mich., and players from the "winning-est" program in the history of college football burst onto the field. It's one of the timeless traditions that define the game: the Michigan Wolverines slapping a banner in the country's biggest stadium as the band blares the school's famous fight song.
Mike Wallace's "game day" moment
One hundred and twelve thousand fans roaring as one -- exactly how Michigan athletic director Dave Brandon wants it.
Dave Brandon: We want people to never even think about staying home and watching this in 3D on their flat screen television. That's unacceptable. We want things to be going on here that are not going to get covered, and not going to be a part of their living room experience.
That's why, for Michigan's home opener, Brandon brought in a stealth bomber to help kick off the game and, two seasons ago, had the game ball special delivered right out of the sky.
[Dave Brandon: We want our fans to be wowed.]
Brandon was hired as athletic director here two years ago - a former Michigan football player and CEO of Domino's Pizza -- schooled in the ingredients of marketing success.
[Dave Brandon: Good morning, are we ready to go?]
On game day, he never stops moving, arriving five hours early, double checking on everything from the expensive suites to the concession stands...
[Dave Brandon: So what's the best seller?]
[Dave Brandon: Hi, I'm with the quality control department.]
...to the freshness of the cookies. Truth is, he simply can't afford not to be obsessed with the tiniest details. Because like virtually every other college in the country, Michigan's entire athletic department budget - this year, all $133 million supporting 29 sports - is built on the back of one thing: football revenue.
Armen Keteyian: How much of that $133 million is your football team responsible for?
Dave Brandon: About 75 percent.
Armen Keteyian: So I'm doing the math, that's, that's north of $90 million. Does that number keep you at night?
Dave Brandon: Well, I think it was Mark Twain who said, 'If you put all your eggs in one basket, you better watch your basket.' I watch my basket pretty carefully when it comes to football.
Michigan has the nation's largest alumni group and a zealous fan base that gobbles up millions of dollars in merchandise. Even so, Dave Brandon taps into that fervor any way he can.
Yes, for $6,000 a pop, the Big House can occasionally be turned into the Chapel of Love.
With revenue streams flowing from every direction, Michigan's athletic department turns a profit, but it is the exception in college sports.
Dave Brandon: The business model of big-time college athletics is primarily broken. It's, it's a horrible business model.
Armen Keteyian: Broken.
Dave Brandon: Broken. You've got 125 of these programs. Out of 125, 22 of them were cash flow even or cash flow positive. Now, thankfully, we're one of those. What that means is you've got a model that's not sustainable in most cases. You just don't have enough revenues to support the costs. And the costs continue to go up.
Why? A big reason is universities are in the midst of a sports building binge. Cal Berkeley, for example, renovated its stadium to the tune of $321 million. The list is endless. Michigan's athletic department floated $226 million in bonds to upgrade the Big House.
Armen Keteyian: What are you chasing?
Dave Brandon: We want to win championships.
Armen Keteyian: And you're going to get a big payout?
Dave Brandon: We're going to have excited fans, we're going to fill stadiums, we're going to be on TV. We're going to accomplish all of the goals that we need to accomplish to keep this department moving ahead.
Armen Keteyian: And that's where the phrase "arms race" comes up?
Dave Brandon: If you don't keep pace, if you don't stay competitive, you're going to have a problem.
Inside a recently built indoor practice facility that many an NFL team would envy, we spoke to Michigan's head coach Brady Hoke.
Armen Keteyian: Can you recruit a top player without facilities like this?
Brady Hoke: You know, it matters. I-- I'd be sitting here lying if I didn't think it mattered. I think the other part of it though-- the people have to matter too.
The program every school has been chasing is Alabama. The Crimson Tide have rolled to two national titles in the last three years. The architect of that success is Nick Saban, as innovative a coach as there is in the game. And the leader of another escalating trend in college football: skyrocketing coaching salaries. Saban is paid over $5 million a year, more than Alabama's chancellor.
Armen Keteyian: Are you worth it?
Nick Saban: Probably not. Probably not. But I think the other side of that is you almost have to look at what return has there been on that investment?
Since Saban took over in 2007, Alabama's profits have nearly tripled, a rare athletic department not drowning in red ink. Saban's championship ways have not only earned him a place in Alabama lore, today he and his school are such a valued commodity, they were handpicked for THE showcase game in primetime: the first Saturday of this season, a matchup engineered by ESPN, Alabama against Michigan, inside sold-out Cowboys Stadium in Dallas, in front of 90,000 diehard fans.
Each school took home a record $10 million in ticket sales and TV rights, an athletic director's dream.
Dave Brandon: This game will sell merchandise. It will create interest for tickets back home. It'll hopefully get other networks bidding for these opportunities for us.
For schools without the pedigree of Michigan or Alabama, football has become the fastest way to put their universities on the map. This was unheralded Towson University preparing in Baton Rouge, La., to play powerhouse LSU in what is known as a guarantee game. Towson was guaranteed a half million dollars to show up and also guaranteed to lose -- on national TV no less. Before the game, we spoke to Towson athletic director Mike Waddell.
Armen Keteyian: Why subject your team to this?
Mike Waddell: There'll be more people watching this game tonight than perhaps have ever watched anything to do with Towson University in our history, going back 146 years.
But then a funny thing happened on the way to the slaughter, the sacrificial lambs didn't lie down. With five minutes to go in the first half, the nobodies from North Baltimore led mighty LSU, 9-7. But at halftime, Towson head coach Rob Ambrose wasn't gloating.
[Rob Ambrose: Now, any of you sons of bitches that are smiling cause you think we did something. I'm gonna kill ya. It's a 15-round fight, not five. You got it?
Team: Yes sir.
Rob Ambrose: What the hell are we waiting for? Let's go.]
LSU's talent would eventually prove too much, but Towson never stopped fighting, right to the end. An eventual 38-22 loss on the scoreboard, but a win for the Towson University brand.
[Mike Waddell: Way to go buddy!]
[Mike Waddell: You couldn't buy this type of an advertisement nationally.]
Even at a place like Michigan, one of the top academic institutions in the country, football is the front porch to the school and a magnet for donations to the entire university.
Dave Brandon: This is a huge giving season. Our development folks have actually done statistical research on how much of the giving takes place during the football season and it's a disproportionate amount.
Armen Keteyian: Disproportionate, how much?
Dave Brandon: I think the number is somewhere between 60 and 70 percent. And that's why, in many cases, you see universities who drop football bringing it back. Because that magnet works.
[Brady Hoke: Everybody got that? That was a good win.]
With all this on the line, believe it or not there is no more important hire a university can make these days than its head football coach.
[Brady Hoke: This is Michigan for God's sake...]
In Michigan's case, last year it was little-known Brady Hoke, a "character counts" coach who has revitalized this storied program. Hoke is the last to admit to the pressure he's under to win. But like most coaches, his life speaks for him.
Armen Keteyian: Average day, when do you get in here?
Brady Hoke: 5:45.
Armen Keteyian: An average day, when do you leave?
Brady Hoke: Oh, 9:30, 10, 10:30 sometimes.
Armen Keteyian: The Alabama game started around 7:15 Texas time. How much did you eat that day?
Brady Hoke: I didn't.
Armen Keteyian: Why?
Brady Hoke: Ah, that's a good question. Probably a little bit of antsy-ness, nerves, whatever.
Alabama's Nick Saban knows that feeling all too well.
Armen Keteyian: How long will you let yourself savor a win like that win over Michigan?
Nick Saban: Well, when we won the national championship, about two hours after the game somebody said, 'You don't seem very happy.' And I said, 'Well, I'm just worried about what the issues are gonna be for next year. 'Cause something's happening.'
Armen Keteyian: So you allowed yourself a whole 120 minutes of pure pleasure?
Nick Saban: Not very long.
Like an inverted pyramid, the constant pressure funnels down, from the coaches to the players, almost all of whom are between 18 and 23 years old.
Take a look and listen to an average Michigan practice in August, a week before school even started. It resembled a 10-ring circus.
When it was over, ice baths provided a welcome, if brief, relief. The truth is being a college football player these days means a year-round cycle of practice, weightlifting and off-season workouts.
Here were Michigan players last May training with Navy SEALs out in San Diego. Denard Robinson, the team's star quarterback, led the charge.
Armen Keteyian: These are fulltime jobs. Fair to say?
Denard Robinson: Oh, yeah.
Armen Keteyian: Fulltime?
Denard Robinson: Oh yeah, it is. It is a fulltime job. It's a grind. And it's, it's a grind because you have to do this. Because those games that you are going to face, it's going to take a toll on you.
Armen Keteyian: And you know the other reason is because the guys across from you are doing the same damn thing.
Denard Robinson: The same thing. Oh, yeah.
Remember that Michigan-Alabama game in Dallas? Well, after a dispiriting loss, the Wolverines didn't return to Ann Arbor until five in the morning, the end of a 40-hour weekend. On top of it all, the players still had to be in class on Monday morning...that means even Robinson, the unquestioned "Big Man on Campus." His number 16 jersey is the hottest property in town. When he's healthy, Robinson's dynamic play has determined Michigan's fate. And when he gets hurt, the entire Michigan family holds its collective breath.
Armen Keteyian: There's a lot at stake here. Do you worry that it's just too much pressure on these student athletes?
Dave Brandon: Yes, I do worry. I see kids. I see 18, 19, 20-year-old kids who are still trying to figure out life and figure what they're about. Most rabid fans don't see any of that.
No, what they're seeing more and more of is this: nail-biting finishes, unscripted drama...
[Lundquist: How about that!]
...unbridled passion. More than ever, schools going all in on the high-stakes game called college football.