College basketball teams in Texas -- "even the good ones -- are rarely key moneymakers for their athletic departments," as there is "usually only one place to build" a profitable program: the football field, according to Matthew Watkins of the TEXAS TRIBUNE. Only a few universities in Texas "have the fanbases and conference affiliations to succeed." The state's eight public athletic departments in FY '15 earned just less than $520M, nearly $300M of which "came from football." Men’s basketball, "the next-highest earner," brought in $39M. That revenue is "not evenly distributed." Texas and Texas A&M's football profits have approached $100M in recent years, while Texas Tech "usually turns a more modest profit." The rest of the public FBS universities, which "play outside of the major football conferences, consistently lose money on their teams." Without football profits, "managing a self-sustaining athletic department is nearly impossible." Texas-San Antonio's women’s tennis team earned $1,507 in FY '15, while spending $275,012. Texas A&M Chancellor John Sharp said, "There are people within any university saying we ought not to be spending money on football. But sports like football pay for themselves, and generate money for virtually everyone else." Watkins wrote programs without cash cow football teams "struggle to pay their bills." The football teams at Houston, UTSA, UTEP, Texas State and North Texas "all operated at a loss," even though their revenue ranged from $2-7M and "far outpaced other teams on their respective campuses" (TEXASTRIBUNE.org, 3/17).
