Thanks to Evin Demirel’s Sports Seer for digging out the local angle on a new USA Today ranking of sports spending by the nation’s colleges. The University of Arkansas ranked 14th in the whole United States among 230 Division I schools in 2013 with $99.7 million in revenues.

That’s a whopping $4,000 per year for every single one of the almost 25,000 students on the Fayetteville campus (or about $16 million just for the Texans.) This is staggering, don’t you think? I know. No money comes from student fees and most money comes from ticket sales, contributions and licensing.

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But here’s the thing: You’d think a school controlled in large measure by Walton money would be bottom-line  oriented. 14th in spending and for what? In the ball sports that matter, not much. Rankings don’t come near to corresponding to revenue. 

Arkansas State University ranks 131st with $16.28 million in revenue. Then comes UCA at 194 with $10.77 million. Then UALR at 206 with $9.4 million. Then UAPB at 220 with $7.1 million.

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Noted: ASU gets $9.2 million of its money from student fees and school funds. UA only reports about $2 million in school funds. The Red Wolves piled up a puny $400,000 in contributions in 2013, against $19.4 million at UA.

ALSO: Demirel notes the huge gap between UA and UAPB is the largest intra-system disparity in the country. 

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