AUSTIN, Texas – Chris Del Conte is heading to his office as he leaves his office on a Thursday afternoon. other meeting. This week, this is what the life of the athletic director of one of the wealthiest athletic departments in America looks like.
Like the other meetings this week, this one focused on detailed planning related to Saturday’s huge home game: No. 1 Texas vs. No. 5 Georgia.
This game is arguably the biggest game at Darrell K Royal Stadium late in the season in 54 years, and perhaps here some would argue the biggest game ever given the circumstances. New blood in the SEC against old blood in the SEC clashes. The top five compete in a primetime showdown in front of more than 100,000 people in the bustling downtown of one of America’s fastest growing cities.
But there’s more to it than that, Del Conte says.
Formula 1 (F1), the international racing federation, holds its annual Grand Prix just a few miles from the football stadium. More than 200,000 spectators are expected to attend the three-day event, from practice rounds through Sunday’s finale.
Del Conte isn’t done yet. On Saturday night, the Bulldogs and Longhorns tangle on the football field while the F1 Concert featuring lead artist Eminem takes place.
Wait a minute. There’s more.
As the soccer game approaches halftime, Austin FC, the city’s professional soccer team, begins playing across the city.
Del Conte shuffles into the logistics conference room looking like he hasn’t slept much.
“Saturday is going to be a mess.” He paused for a moment.
“Look, everything is fine,” he continues. “It’s just chaos!”
chaos. Messy. Or maybe another explanation fits the bill, coming up this Saturday in Austin. watertight.
If one weekend could sum up the essence and motivation of a school moving to the SEC, it would be this. The Longhorns have left behind a decades-old rivalry in the Big 12, shut down even the Longhorn Network, and at least somewhat handed over power within the conference room, opening up Saturdays like this one. , a nationally televised affair.
“That’s probably the part that gets the least coverage in the media when you consider the impact,” says Jay Hartzell, the school’s principal. “The media focuses too much on media rights deals. They don’t focus enough on the impact of home games.”
There is a more nuanced explanation as to why Texas left for the SEC. Here, managers talk about the uncertainty of future TV broadcast revenues due to declining linear subscriptions (cord-cutting). They also point to a 2018 federal tax change that prevents boosters from exempting football-related ticket donations.
But all reasons end with the same simple explanation. The school wanted a more valuable home schedule against big brand opponents as a way to generate key revenue streams, including football ticket sales and donations. Arguably the most successful athletic department in the country over the past decade.
And now, this Saturday, three years after finishing my conference shift, it arrives. Not only that, but this weekend a massive event brought the party city’s biggest party yet. Probably the biggest ever.
“This will be one of the biggest weekends of the year, if not the biggest weekend in the city’s history,” said Drew Hayes, executive director of the Austin Sports Commission. “F1 is usually our Super Bowl, and now we have top-five college football.”
Austin, known for its music festivals, diverse food scene and trendy vibe, is now doing something different, Hays says.
“We’re having a sporting moment.”
Why the SEC’s move is so important to Texas
In his first year as Texas president, Hartzell fired football coaches and changed athletic conferences while navigating the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic. Three years later, in his office overlooking the college campus and Austin’s expansive downtown, he’s beaming at the results.
“Think about what kind of movement there was that year,” he said. “It’s amazing to see the results come out.”
Hartzell makes a lot of money, is a numbers guy, and is an economist with a PhD in finance. He sometimes speaks in code, using language like “fixed cost basis” and “variable revenue.” A longtime tennis player and sports fan, his two loves – economics and exercise – often come together, especially these days. In fact, his first published paper addressed finances within the Boston Celtics franchise.
When the school decided to fire coach Tom Herman after the 2020 football season, Hartzell looked into the athletic department’s finances. He learned something. The numbers soared during a season in which Texas hosted one of college football’s biggest brands in a non-conference matchup.
“One key opponent at home was radically different from our season economy,” he said. “The power of family schedules is not best understood.”
Football TV revenue and football ticket donations are two of the most important ways major college athletic departments generate revenue. In 2023, the Texas athletic department brought in $270 million, an NCAA school record, according to USA Today. Texas generates more than $60 million in annual contributions through boosters to allocate premium seating. This amounts to about a quarter of the budget. About 15% comes from television distribution.
In 2021, Del Conte presented his board and Hartzell with a “menu” on the college sports landscape, including information on how declining linear subscriptions could affect future broadcast revenues and the Big 12’s impending TV deal. . But perhaps the most important item concerned Texas’ home football schedule. This has decreased in value over the years.
The Longhorns play their top rival every year at a neutral site (Oklahoma in Dallas), and lost a game against their in-state rival when Texas A&M moved to the SEC.
“You can’t cancel tickets anymore,” Del Conte said, citing 2018 tax code changes. “Now it’s all about who you play with.”
This is important not only from an economic perspective, Hartzell adds. At Texas home games, “family reunions happen, friendships are formed, networks are formed and business deals are made or rekindled,” he said. “Six times a year, we bring 100,000 people together and find common ground.”
It’s a really simple formula. The bigger the opponent, the more people appear. The more people show up, the more money you make. The more revenue you generate, the more you win. The more wins you have, the more people appear.
The cycle repeats.
At a time when college sports are experiencing the greatest change – with revenue being shared directly with athletes just one year away – money is more important than ever.
In an interview Thursday, Hartzell summed up the state of college football in a few sentences.
“The way the economic power of college sports plays out will only exacerbate the gap between the haves and have-nots,” he says. “Cutting the cord at household level is putting pressure on the media trade. Live sports in general are one of the things that generate a lot of interest and demand. College football is the biggest driving force, but not all games are the same. Games from big brands make money.”
That’s why SEC and Big Ten officials are in the early stages of discussing a scheduling partnership, a way to pit the industry’s most valuable programs against each other. For the same reason, outside organizations have proposed new models for the future of college football, all of which have at least one thing in common. The best brands play best more often.
“Everything is coming together around that,” Hartzell says. “I don’t have an end point in mind, but I don’t think this trend of major brands finding ways to compete with each other more frequently is far from over.”
“Big games are important in college football,” Del Conte said. He pointed to TV viewership data from the first half of the college football season, when the new-look SEC Goliaths are coming off their most-watched season in history.
Of the 20 most-watched games in college football this season, 16 involved SEC teams. Of those 20, 10 are SEC-only games.
“well.” Del Conte said with a wink. “Here’s your story.”
While the future of college sports is in flux, Texas is pretty well placed.
The scene here this week will be one of wealth.
Private jets line the runway. A helicopter buzzes overhead. International dignitaries stroll the halls of an Austin skyscraper. Celebrities will decorate the soccer field and racecourse.
The average nightly rate for one of Austin’s 50,000 hotel rooms is about $500, Hays says. The estimated economic impact of this weekend’s smorgasbord is more than $500 million.
I hope your ticketing is successful. According to Vivid Seats, this football game is expected to be the best-selling game of the season, with an average price of $477. An F1 Grand Prix ticket costs about $350, while a trackside suite costs $17,000.
This weekend offers a unique mix of two big revenue-generating events: one fully professional (F1) and the other half professional (major college football). Unless something unexpected happens, this will be the last college football season without direct revenue sharing between athletes and schools.
I guess they’re calling it the last hurrah for NCAA amateurism. Decades of restrictions on athlete compensation have been eliminated. The downfall of past models. Starting next July, if the antitrust agreement is approved by the House, schools will be able to share up to $23 million annually with athletes.
College sports have been thrust into a professionalism crisis through court orders and state laws, and many would say they are victims of slow evolution. For universities, the revenue sharing price tag and additional investment in scholarships could exceed $30 million per year.
As college enrollment declines across the country, new costs arise. Because linear television deals are in an uncertain position; To stay competitive, the athletic department, which boasts coaching contacts and flashy facilities, is battling debt.
Hartzell says the future of athletics at many colleges is in a most precarious position.
But his focus isn’t on Texas. The school is at the top of the food chain and probably has more influence, power, and money than any other athletic department in America.
“I worry about schools below a certain threshold and how they will continue to compete,” he says. “At the end of the day, there are going to be a lot of people who will have to subsidize athletics more. This will create another cost pressure on the academic side. People will feel like they have to find ways to save money on academics in order to keep their athletic programs intact. In some schools, the following questions will be asked: Is it really worth it?”
Some athletic departments already losing $10 million to $20 million a year could lose an additional $40 million when revenue sharing kicks in.
“Well, $40 million is a lot of money for professors,” Hartzell said. Are you planning to increase tuition? “There are schools where you can be faced with really difficult decisions about athletics and academics.”
But not in Texas.
It’s not a rich new conference, nor is it a big brand matchup. Saturday is about more than just Texas vs. Georgia. This is why the Longhorns are here in the SEC and perhaps why they can succeed in the revenue-sharing world of college sports.
“It will be fun.” Del Conte said. “All of these games are fun. I hate it. I’ll have to take Pepto-Bismol.”
