Letters to the Editor: Even without NFL funding, college football is big business
To the editor: Building on LZ Granderson’s column, here are a few startling numbers the Sports Daily reported in July: In 31 states, the highest-paid state employee is a college football coach, with Alabama’s Nick Saban and his estimated yearly salary of more than $11 million at the top. Forty of the 50 top earners are coaches. Among college basketball coaches, Kansas’ Bill Self leads the pack at more than $10 million. The typical annual salary for non-coaches on the list is millions less than it is for coaches. Interesting take on where big-time college sports fits within our country’s priorities.
Noel Johnson, Glendale
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To the editor: Granderson claims that college football programs are a taxpayer-funded minor league for the NFL. That claim assumes that all college football programs incur expenses which exceed the revenues they generate, forcing taxpayers to subsidize the deficit.
But the programs supplying the most players to the NFL earn revenues through ticket sales, TV payments, corporate sponsorships, concessions, parking fees, etc. that exceed football-related expenses. The surplus these football programs earn helps fund athletic department spending on the wide range of other sports whose expenses exceed the meager revenues they generate. It is when the net spending on these other sports exceeds the football-generated surplus that the athletic department as a whole incurs a deficit that must be funded via fees on students or by taxpayers.
Granderson also is critical of highly-paid coaches who frequently change jobs. He cites Brian Kelly as an example, noting that from 2002 to 2010 Kelly coached at four different schools. Yet Kelly spent from 1991 through 2002 at the first school and from 2010 to 2021 at the fourth school. Thus, Kelly coached at four schools in 30 years, which is hardly the record of a job-hopper.
Gerry Swider, Sherman Oaks
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To the editor: Granderson is right on target with his analysis of the NFL. It’s been obvious to me for decades. Why this country’s public school system is hell bent on pleasing the NFL is beyond me.
Michael Harold, West L.A.
