Arkansas Sports 360 - ArkansasSports360.com

11/17/2010 at 9:10pm

Arkansas State coach Steve Roberts is working with one of the smallest football budgets in Division I. Arkansas, on the other hand, is among the Top 10 spenders in the nation.

Forget what the polls say, Arkansas is a Top 10 football program.

When it comes to money spent, only nine schools outrank the Razorbacks. Fanhouse.com senior writer Brett McMurphy looks today at the top spenders among football programs using the most recent figures from the U.S. Department of Education's Equity in Athletics.

Arkansas ranks No. 10 on the list with $22 million in expenditures for 2009-10. That’s an increase of $3.5 million from the previous year and at a time when several programs were cutting expenditures, allowed the UA to jump from No. 23 to No. 10 overall.

(Editor's note: The EADA Web site where the numbers were culled offers a bit of a disclaimer. It reads: "Please note that valid comparisons of athletics data are possible only with study and analysis of the conditions affecting each institution.")

And like recruiting numbers and attendance figures, a respectable national ranking is just middle of the pack among SEC programs. Arkansas is sixth in money spent, according to McMurphy.

Other SEC schools in the top 10 are Alabama, Auburn, Florida, South Carolina and LSU.

Arkansas State and most of its Sun Belt Conference brethren are on the other end of the spectrum entirely. ASU spends just $3.76 million a year on football, a figure that ranks No. 114 nationally.

By comparison, the Razorbacks have that much money tied up in salaries for coaches and support staff.

Here are the Sun Belt and SEC rankings from AOL Fanhouse:

SEC
Rk. School (2009 rank) Expenses in millions
2. Alabama (4) $31.11
4. Auburn (2) $27.91
6. Florida (6) $24.45
7. South Carolina (13) $22.79
8. LSU (7) $22.74
10. Arkansas (23) $22.00
21. Georgia (15) $18.30
30. Tennessee (5) $17.35
45. Vanderbilt (43) $14.15
47. Kentucky (50) $13.90
69. Miss. State (52) $9.95
74. Ole Miss (71) $9.51

Sun Belt
90. Middle Tennessee (96) $6.63
95. Florida International (88) $5.97
96. Western Kentucky (102) $5.76
108. Troy (110) $5.02
110. Florida Atlantic (111) $4.61
112. North Texas (112) $4.31
113. Louisiana-Lafayette (113) $4.21
116. Arkansas State (114) $3.76
117. Louisiana-Monroe (115) $2.9

Do y’all think Arkansas is getting a good return on its investment? What about Arkansas State?

Tagged: Arkansas State Red Wolves, AOL Fanhouse, Arkansas Razorbacks, Southeastern Conference