Welcome to the NILnomics Newsletter!

It’s a short week over here as I’m headed to the NACDA Conference down in Orlando this week. For those unfamiliar, this is one of the major gathering of college athletic administrators and the industry at large. Originally I wasn’t going to go, but I’ve had enough schools, subscribers, and followers online interested in collaborating with me to justify the time/expense. So - if you happen to be around, send me an email! The last minute scramble to configure the logistics of the trip left me with less time for the newsletter this week, so I drew from some online engagement to develop some quick topics:

• Men’s/Women’s College World Series - new EADA data has me set to look at the % of budgets of each team spent on their respective sport

• College hockey - back at the home barn data, this time with everyone

Pour some coffee. Get comfortable. Let’s get into it.

⚾️ Men’s/Women’s College World Series 🥎 

Unless you live in a cave you may notice that the college baseball/softball championships are well underway. Someone on X gave me an idea:

And I’m nothing if not responsive to the needs of the internet. Without further ado:

Quick Takeaways:

• What is happening at USC Upstate? #2 in baseball and #1 in softball (by a large amount!)

• Seems like everyone’s eye is on Texas Tech and their star pitcher NiJaree Canady. Interesting that they seem to sit right at the middle at 3% of their athletics budget. Then again, the $1 million she reportedly got in NIL is not accounted for here…

• There’s something interesting about how many schools made the playoffs in both baseball/softball. Too many? Not enough?

Analyst’s Desk

This was a straightforward task as I used the newest EADA that just dropped 🔥 - I took the TOTAL_EXPENSE_ALL_Baseball/TOTAL_EXPENSE_ALL_Softball and divided by GRND_TOTAL_REVENUE to get these percentages.

Quick Takeaways:

• It’s not surprising that the Big 10 would have the largest arenas, but my eyes go to how some of the top barns in other conferences (North Dakota, UMass, Minnesota) beat their smallest barn (looking at you, Notre Dame).

• Love seeing Hockey East scrapping to be up there with B1G/NCHC (did I mention I’m a Northeastern alum?)

• There’s something to be said about the consistency (aka small gap) between the biggest/smallest barns in the Atlantic Hockey Conference (3100 seat difference).

Analyst’s Desk

I hate that I used Wikipedia for this, but I can’t think of a quicker/more technical way to get the data. There are some caveats throughout the data and many things I learned along the way. Northeastern University, my alma mater, is in the middle of transitioning from the oldest indoor hockey arena in the world to a new facility slated to open until 2028. I kept it as Mathews despite them having

📖 What I’m Reading/Listening To 🔉 

• Josh Pate’s College Football Show - I don’t ever get into the x’s and o’s of any sport, but I think Josh gives a strong argument for the 4-4-2-2-1-3 CFP format.

• Sports Business Radio Podcast - this week’s guest, Adam Breneman, has been around the horn in college football. Really good insights to hear.

• Bunch Formation - I’ve never heard these guys before, but the Athletic’s Chris Vannini and David Ubben are an easy listen. Love the info on the new EA College Football 26, which I’m excited to play soon!

Final Thoughts

Thanks for reading.

I didn’t have as much time as I’d have liked this week. There are a number of analysis I have ready to fire off once they’re in the oven a bit longer. The FRS reports are getting further scraping/cleaning and will provide some insights you won’t find anywhere else. There’s also a big project underway that I hope to have out later this summer.

Given that the NACDA conference will genuinely suck up so much time next week, I’m going to write up a bit more of a narrative essay to post for next week. Consider it a palette cleanser. We’ll be back to more graphs and visuals the week after.

Again, if you’re around at NACDA give me a shout - would love to meet up!

Until next time,

Greg Chick, PhD

Data Analyst

📩 Know someone who cares about the future of college sports? Forward this email or share the subscription link.

💬 Got feedback or a topic you want me to cover? Reply to this email - I read everything.