College football generates over $11B annually—but many programs run at a loss

The NFL makes most of its money through media licensing deals

The NFL, which reportedly earned more than $20B in 2023, generates its revenue through several key streams. The largest comes from media licensing deals, where networks and streaming platforms pay billions for the rights to broadcast games. Corporate sponsorships are another major contributor.

College football weekends deliver major economic boosts to local communities

Home games draw tens of thousands of fans who spend on hotels, restaurants, and entertainment—injecting millions into local economies and making football Saturdays vital for many college towns’ businesses and seasonal revenue.

Ranking the highest college football coach salaries

See the pay received by notable college football coaches in the US. Topping the list is Georgia’s Kirby Smart, with a total pay of over $13M. Smart is followed by Clemson’s Dabo Swinney, Texas’ Steve Sarkisian, and USC’s Lincoln Riley. Scroll through the list of 134 names with the lowest displayed salary of $376,000.

How men's volleyball teams are saving struggling colleges in the US

Many colleges and universities in the US are facing severe financial pressure from a mix of decreasing research funding, lower enrollment, and, overall, a decreased interest in higher education. For some colleges, beefing up athletic programs that aren't available at all schools, like men's volleyball, is attracting new students.

Where colleges get their money, visualized

If you're curious about how different colleges and universities generate their revenue, this National Center for Education Statistics webpage offers a clear visual breakdown. See how public, private nonprofit, and for-profit institutions fund their operations, highlighting the differences between funding sources depending on the type of institution.

Americans spent nearly $150B in sports-related bets in 2024

These bets ranged from who would win the World Series to what color clothes famous celebrities would wear to the Super Bowl. Experts believe the industry will continue to grow.

Ranking the world's highest paid athletes in 2022

The top 100 highest-paid athletes in the world include players from 10 sports and 24 countries. They earned $4.46 billion in total income, including $3.24 billion in salary and prize money, as well…

Evaluating college endowment returns

According to a new study, US college and university endowments achieved an average net return of 11.2% in fiscal year 2024. Harvard University maintained its position as the largest endowment, valued at $53.2B. Read this Forbes article to learn more about how institutions manage and grow their financial resources through endowments.

NFL stadiums are designed to maximize profit, not number of seats

Most stadiums are actually getting smaller as the cost of land rises. Owners have sought to increase returns by designing prestige suits and clubs (rather than just more general admission) and laying out the stadium to maximize customer purchases.

College sticker prices are often misleading

1440's editor-in-chief chatted with an economist in this podcast episode to unravel how college tuition really works, who carries the biggest debt, and why the system feels expensive.

The decline in value of the NFL running back

Running backs long held the role of superstar on NFL teams, carrying their team down by down to the endzone. Their salaries reflected that importance as well. But in the last 30 years, front offices and fans have taken more to the quarterback instead, who receives much higher salaries. This podcast episode breaks down the economics of the turn in the game's focus from rushing to passing.

In 2024, US airports generated over $1B of revenue—partly due to overpriced airport food

Some in the airport industry argue that charging street prices in airport restaurants isn't sustainable because it's more expensive to run a business inside an airport.

New rules introduced in 2021 let college athletes profit from their name, image, and likeness (NIL)

The NCAA’s 2021 policy shift allowed athletes to earn money through endorsements, sponsorships, and personal branding—transforming the college sports landscape and changing the dynamic of what it means to be a student-athlete.

The complicated economics of horse racing

The Triple Crown commands big ratings (and enormous amounts of money in betting) but the sport as a whole is in a precarious position, thanks to limited tracks and an overreliance on subsidies. This special from Freakonomics unpacks what all that means for the future of the sport.

US public K-12 spending topped $857B in 2024

Public K-12 schools spent around $857B in 2024, averaging $17,277 per student. State and local sources shouldered nearly 90% of costs, and federal funds provided about $2,400 per pupil.

Roughly 43 million US borrowers owe roughly $1.7T in student debt, the second-largest source of consumer debt behind mortgages.

More than $100M in scholarships goes unclaimed each year

More than $50B in scholarships are awarded each year, though analysts estimate more than $100M goes unclaimed due to a lack of qualified applicants. That fact should be unsurprising given the dizzying number and criteria for thousands of applications. This portal from the US Department of Labor lets you quickly search more than 9,600 scholarship opportunities by program, eligibility criteria, and more.

Understanding the basics of football

While American football may be entertaining, for fans who never played the game it can be confusing. Why do teams choose to run, pass, line up in certain defenses, run people in motion, call audibles at the line—or do any of the many other things that happen on the field?

The 2007 college football season was one of the wildest in history

In 2007, a record number of top-ranked teams fell, including 41-point underdog Stanford stunning USC. Upsets scrambled the rankings weekly, producing an unpredictable and memorable season.

Some banks derive half of their income from overdraft fees on checking accounts

The fees are incurred when a customer withdraws more money than is left in the account, typically around $35 per overdraft. One in 11 Americans pays more than $350 a year in such fees, generating tens of billions of dollars each year for banks..

Fungal diseases cost the US around $19B annually

Estimates derived from health insurance claims, death certificates, and hospitalization data suggest that fungus is a significant medical issue. Each year, fungal diseases kill some 7,300 people—roughly the same number of deaths attributed to motor vehicles striking pedestrians. Around 130,000 people are hospitalized with fungal diseases, and the total national cost from fungal diseases is estimated to be about $19B—a figure that roughly matches Jamaica's entire gross domestic product.

The College Football Playoff expanded to 12 teams in 2024

Beginning with the 2024 season, the playoff grew from four to 12 teams—adding first-round games on campus and aiming to give more programs a shot at the national title. Ohio State defeated Notre Dame in the championship to become the first-ever 12-team playoff champions.

Organized crime, including money laundering, drains $1.96T from the global economy annually

Overall, financial crime drains $3T from the global economy, with organized crime making up nearly $2T of that total. Drug trafficking is the second-largest drain on the global economy.

The dating app industry's average customer acquisition cost exceeds $40 per user

This relatively high cost of customer acquisition (according to 2022 data from saturated markets) makes profitable growth increasingly difficult for dating apps, which is why many have pivoted to focusing on their subscription tiers for reliable revenue.

BTS makes big profits, and spends just as big

While the band has been on hiatus since 2022, there are remarkable insights into the band’s success, like a $44M profit from a six-show tour. Their profits allow them massive spending, with investments like a shared mansion in addition to owning their own multimillion-dollar apartments.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has called OpenAI 'the most capital-intensive startup in history'

As of 2024, Silicon Valley was set to spend $1T in the coming years building AI. As companies, including Google and Microsoft, fling billions at AI dreams, concerns are rising about whether that money will ever be recouped. To learn about the argument that there is an AI bubble—and that it could soon burst if AI doesn't prove its worth—read this article.

The USPS spent $3.97B in 2024, accounting for .058% of the federal budget.

Play the role of a student in a game where you try to navigate college and remain debt-free, selecting different income levels, high school experience, race, ethnicity, and more.

Hedge funds, the private investment firms that trade a wide swath of financial assets, make money by imposing steep fees on investors and from the fund's investment performance.

About 2,000 US babies are born annually without some portion of their limbs, potentially leading to a lifetime of pricey prosthetics.

The price of gas is a composite made up of several different factors, with the federal gas tax making up less than 20% of what drivers pay at the pump.

SpaceX's S-1 or 'prospectus' revealed many previously unknown details about the company, including its unprofitability despite doing $18.7B in revenue in 2025, exactly how many voting shares Elon Musk will have in the company (roughly 85%), and more.

Before the current East Wing ballroom project, only two White House renovations in the past 100 years cost more than $10M.

The 1987 Nintendo video game 'Stadium Events' isn't known for being particularly fun, but its scarcity has made it a highly sought-after item that has sold for up to $35K at auction.

Dozens of S&P 500 stocks, including Coca-Cola and Walmart—known as the dividend aristocrats—have increased dividends every year for 25 years

Art theft is the third-largest source of criminal revenues worldwide, thanks in part to the subjective nature of valuing a work of art.

Up to a million Girl Scouts sell about 200 million cookie boxes every spring, generating $800 million, largely because refusing a child is frowned upon

Use this tool to calculate the dollar value of your parental mental load, from meal planning to coordinating after-school care, then see resources that help generate solutions.

The most expensive ad of all time was for Chanel No. 5 perfume and cost roughly $33M to produce in 2004—about $57M in today's dollars.

Netflix profits when you're not watching, and its movies are designed that way—read a detail-rich critical essay exposing lesser-known Netflix takes

11 people died from firework injuries in the US in 2024.

Stanford built a Google Maps for the Roman Empire, revealing how much it cost to travel in the ancient world

Some renewable energy sources may weaken the resiliency of electric grids by removing outage buffers provided by coal- and natural gas-fired plants, which provide the system with more time to find a new power source if a plant goes down.

See how Budweiser's famous Clydesdales spend their days at Warm Springs Ranch, where roughly 70 to 80 of the beer brand's giant horses can be found at any given time.

Larger animals like giraffes, elephants, and blue whales have developed a unique defense against cancer, a phenomenon known as Peto's Paradox

Despite being favored by 87% of Americans, Congress does not have term limits.

Most of the observable universe's volume consists of voids and supervoids—enormous regions of space with little to no galaxies, stars, or light.

See how Ebola tore through Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia in 2014-2016.

Some coin denominations have ridges etched on their sides, partly to prevent counterfeiting, in a practice called 'reeding.'

The Russia-Ukraine conflict is the largest ground war in Europe since World War II in terms of casualties, forces mobilized, and displacement of civilians.