Does Football Help Bowling Green's Athletic Department Financially?

When Bowling Green State University announced that head football coach Mike Jinks was being relieved of his coaching duties, Director of Athletics Bob Moosbrugger stated that, "[w]e need football to be successful to help our entire athletics department and University."

So what is the financial impact of the Bowling Green football program on the athletics department?  Using data from the Membership Financial Reporting System that was posted by The Chronicle of Higher Education and from additional data that I have collected, I looked at the football programs revenues, expenses, and excess/deficiencies, the athletic department's excess/deficiencies, and finally the student fees distributed to the athletic department for the academic years 2012 to 2016.  The table below reports the financial data.  Financial data is here. (Note:  FY2013 = 2012 academic year)

		Football		Football		Football		Athletic Dept.		Athletic Dept.
Season		Revenue		Expenses		Revenue-Expenses		Student Fees		Revenue-Expenses
2012		$3,801,729		$5,732,183		-$1,930,454		$12,408,393		-----
2013		$3,321,370		$5,894,344		-$2,572,974		$12,718,603		$162,699
2014		$2,718,523		$5,681,208		-$2,962,685		$12,600,000		$1,896
2015		$3,925,810		$6,687,220		-$2,761,410		$12,528,362		-$883,526
2016		$2,689,908		$6,348,904		-$3,658,996		$12,653,646		$1,549,720

As you can see, football is not a financial driver of the athletic department as the football program has a deficiency for each of the last five seasons that data is available.  In terms of overall athletic department excess or deficiencies, the Bowling Green athletic department looks like it aims to break even.  Finally, the biggest financial driver of the athletic department are student fees, which are over $12 million each year.