Last year the Bulldogs collected $22.5 million from ticket sales and another $28 million from contributions, highlighting how important a loyal alumni base can be to a team’s financial success.

It’s those damned expenses.

Though the top SEC teams have taken a more dominant position this year, with LSU close behind Alabama at No. 4, the conference as a whole no longer controls the front half of the list. Last year, the SEC commanded seven of the top ten spots; this year, the conference has just four teams in the top ten. Part of that has to do with how much SEC teams spend on football each year – the typical conference team spent a staggering $27 million…

This, too:  “The athletic department contributed $4 million back to academic programming.”  Watch that number grow over the next few years.