PORTLAND, Ore. — Unlike the SEC, the ACC and the Big 12 college conferences, the Pac-12 followed the Big Ten and Mid-American conferences in canceling their fall sports seasons to reduce the risk of spreading Covid-19.
Based on the 2018-19 academic year data from higher ed's Equity in Athletics Data Analysis system at the U.S. Department of Education, the Pac-12 conference, including the University of Oregon and Oregon State University, may be forgoing about $1.3 billion in annual revenue by canceling athletic activity.
Eugene's UO and OSU in Corvallis had 447 and 541 unduplicated student athletes in their athletic programs last year drawing an average of $242,730 and $152,244 of revenue to the schools, respectively.
The UO had a grand total of $108.5 million in athletic program revenue while OSU drew $82.4 million, straddling the average for the Pac-12 conference which was $106.4 million.
The biggest money maker at both Oregon schools was, of course, men's football, with the Oregon Ducks bringing in $72.1 million and the Oregon State Beavers collecting $35.8 million. Next up was men's basketball, raising $10.9 million at UO and $6.3 million at OSU. Basketball was the top-grossing sport for women at both colleges, bringing in $1.9 million and $4.7 million at UO and OSU, respectively.
The deferred season will not only dim the prospects for more than a thousand student athletes in the state, it will make college life a lot less exciting for tens of thousands of Oregon college students and likely cost the institution's hundreds of millions of dollars.
Click on the gallery link below to see which Pac-12 universities raked in the most athletics revenue in the 2018-19 academic year, as well as their average revenue per athlete.
The Portland Business Journal is a KGW News partner.