Michigan Spend Big To Attract Harbaugh. Is Football That Important? Fans And Boosters Believe So!

Mickey Mouse Will Pay For Jim Harbaugh's $48 Million Michigan Contract

Former San Francisco 49ers head coach Jim Harbaugh is about to take the same position at the University of Michigan. ESPN  reportedyesterday that Harbaugh will sign a record six-year contract with the Wolverines worth at least $48 million.

Expect the usual outcry from those who think that is too much to spend on a football coach. But the reality is that football is a big moneymaker for Michigan that funds academics and other sports that do not make money. And don’t think for a second that Harbaugh won’t have the funds to sign high-priced assistants or to continue to spend more on scholarships than any team in the country.

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The Big Ten Conference’s television deals are coming up for renewal soon, which means Michigan will soon have a lot more money to invest in its football program.

The Big Ten has its own national cable network and also has television contracts withWalt Disney's DIS -0.2% ABC/ESPN, BTN, CBS CBS -0.34% and Fox . Disney, which has first-tier rights, is paying $1 billion for 10 years through the 2016-17 season. The Big 10 Network (51% owned by Fox and 49% owned by the conference), which has second-tier rights, is paying $2.8 billion through 2031-32 (excluding profit distributions). Fox is paying $145 million over six seasons for the Football Championship Game through 2016. And CBS is ponying up $72 million over six years for select basketball telecasts. The math works out to a per-year average of $248 million.

But the deals with Mickey Mouse and CBS, signed soon before television rights fees for sports took off, are cheap by today’s standards.

In April, the Lafayette Journal and Courier obtained a document that showed that the Big Ten is anticipating 12 of the 14 schools are projected to receive $44.5 million each through the league’s distribution plan, or about $14 million more than they will receive this season.

The bulk of the money is expected to come from Disney as it holds on to its first-tier rights. Who said college sports isn’t a Mickey Mouse operation?

Also on Forbes:

College Football's Most Powerful Coaches 2014

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College Football's Most Powerful Coaches 2014

Our list of the most powerful coaches in college football uses a handful of financial metrics to define power. Those metrics range from the simple - salary and football budget - to the more complex areas of termination buyouts and coach's salary as a percentage of his school's coaching budget. We limited our scope to the head football coaches who made at least $2 million in 2014 (The average coach on our list made $4.5 million this year). We also overlooked any coaches who lost or left coaching positions this season, as well as those who are finishing their first years on the job.

Sources: Department of Education, USA Today and coaches' contracts.