From the USA Today article I linked above: "At Texas, for example, the return on the sizable investment in Brown is a pre-eminent football program that last sea

From the USA Today article I linked above: "At Texas, for example, the return on the sizable investment in Brown is a pre-eminent football program that last season won the school's first football national championship in 35 years and accounted for 62% of all the Longhorns' athletics revenues, turning a $42 million profit. Football essentially underwrote 17 other sports at the school that don't make money -- all but men's basketball and baseball." I'm not sure if the profit takes into account university merchandise. Powerhouse football programs sell lots and lots of university clothing, and the universities make money off the licensing.