It's difficult to determine the exact economics of college football. There isn't a single College Football program in the United States that operated independently of a college or university's overall athletics program. The money earned by the men's Basketball team and spent by the women's tennis team all come from the athletic department's finances, which are intermingled with the football team's revenue and expenses.
Additionally, many universities do not directly control their television contracts (with Notre Dame being a notable exception). Instead, athletic conferences like the Big Ten, SEC or ACC handle those issues, and distribute the money to the member universities.
The University of Texas's football program created an estimated $77.9 million profit in 2012, but they also led the nation in that category. Relatively few college football teams actually run a profit (best estimates are around 30-40 of the 125 FBS programs run a profit each season).
If you add FCS, Division II and Division III programs to the mix (almost none of which turn a profit), it's safe to say that college football is in fact a money loser, overall costing more money than it makes across the entire NCAA.
(Note that these figures do not include most merchandise sales, but rather program-specific revenue and expenses-merchandising is typically handled by the university itself, not the football program).
That being said, the NFL is a multi-billion dollar enterprise. The television revenue for the league was an estimated $7 billion in 2012. Ticket sales, merchandising and other revenue increase that number. In all, the NFL is estimated to have generated almost $10 billion in 2012, far outpacing college football as a whole.
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