First off, I have to credit the Lafayette Journal & Courier for getting the raw numbers used for this piece. They submitted an open records request for Purdue’s athletic financials for the 2016-17 financial year and they are… interesting, in a word:
· Purdue is expecting to get $77.1 million in revenue. This includes about $38 million from the Big Ten in the final year of the current TV rights deal. This comes in a year when football attendance is at a record low.
· Last season Purdue averaged 37,508 fans per game, which was last in the Big Ten.