UPDATE: Auburn defeated Michigan State 70-64 Sunday to win the NCAA South Region and advance to the Final Four, where it will face Florida Saturday in one semifinal. Duke and Houston will play in the other semifinal.
Michigan State and Auburn face off Sunday with the final spot in the NCAA Men’s Final Four on the line. Auburn is a 4.5-point favorite, but Tigers coach Bruce Pearl isn’t buying it.
“I’m not going to let Michigan State play the underdog card even though we’re a No. 1 seed, and they’re a No. 2 seed,” Pearl told reporters on Saturday. “No, they’re Michigan State. They’re Kansas. They’re Duke. They’re North Carolina, and we’re Auburn.”
The on-court resumes of the two schools are a mismatch, as Auburn has made a single Final Four during its history—a 2019 loss by one point to eventual champion Virginia. Michigan State has 10 Final Four appearances, including eight under Tom Izzo, and won national championships in 1979 and 2000.
Off the court, Michigan State also has the edge with higher basketball operating revenue of $25.5 million versus $19.1 million for Auburn during the 2022-23 season, the most recent year of complete data in Sportico’s college finance database. Michigan State ranked seventh among public schools, while Auburn checked in at 14th. Louisville led at $38.5 million.
Michigan State had three times the basketball ticket sales of Auburn: $6.9 million versus $2.3 million, although Auburn had higher donations of $5.2 million compared to $4.4 million—Auburn’s basketball fundraising expenses were the highest of any school at $1.05 million. Both schools logged similar totals for basketball media rights around $7 million.
On the expense side, Michigan State’s basketball operating expenses ranked third overall at $17.3 million, and Auburn was 11th with $15 million—Kentucky was on top at $23.6 million.
Coaching salaries are the biggest expense line item, and Pearl and Izzo are among the best-compensated coaches in the game. In 2022, Izzo signed a five-year contract extension worth $6.2 million per year, plus annual incentives up to $750,000. Pearl bagged a new deal in January 2022 after Auburn was ranked No. 1 for the first time in school history. His deal started at $5.4 million with $250,000 annual escalators and runs through 2030. He has maximum yearly incentives of $925,000. His pay ranked sixth in USA Today’s coaching database, versus fourth for Izzo.
Kansas’ Bill Self ($10.6 million) and Connecticut’s Dan Hurley ($8.3 million) were the only college basketball coaches who were ranked last year in Sportico’s annual look at the 50 highest-paid coaches in American sports by average annual value.
Basketball is big business for Michigan State and Auburn, but it pales in comparison to football revenue at the two schools, as members of the sport’s two premier conferences. Auburn (SEC) and Michigan State (Big Ten) both generated more than $90 million in football revenue during the 2022-23 fiscal year.
Eben Novy Williams contributed reporting.
