University of Florida athletics generate more revenue than any other college sports program in the state. By far.

It’s certainly helped that the Gators have won four national championships – two each in football and men’s basketball – in the past four years. Read my story that ran today about the seven Florida schools with football programs.

Florida does so well that Forbes has it ranked 6th in its list of most valuable college football teams. No. 2 Texas is 1, followed by Notre Dame, Penn State, Nebraska and No. 1 Alabama, which plays Texas for the national championship on Jan. 7. Check out Forbes’ top 20 most valuable college football programs here.

Texas also ranks first in royalty revenues it generates from selling licensed merchandise, according to rankings by the Collegiate Licensing Co. CLC handles licensing for some 200 colleges, conferences and bowl games, but not every school uses the company’s services. So the top 10 royalty generators last year that follow, for example, do not include Ohio State:

1. Texas
2. UF
3. Georgia
4. LSU
5. Alabama
6. North Carolina
7. Michigan
8. Penn State
9. Notre Dame
10. Oklahoma

At the other end of the spectrum is FAU, which started its football program nine years ago. Last year, the school's football program cost $4.5 million to operate, but brought in only $2.7 million in revenue. The school raised $8 million in student fees for athletics to help cover expenses.

Here’s a comparison of some UF and FAU expenses and revenues in 2008, according to documents filed with the NCAA:

UF

FOOTBALL
Expenses: $19 million
Revenues: $66.3 million
Ticket sales: $17.3 million

ALL SPORTS
Expenses: $98.8 million
Revenues: $106.6 million
Ticket sales: $21.1 million
Student fees: $2.6 million
Sales of programs, concessions, parking: $4 million
Royalites, licensing, advertising, sponsorship: $10.2 million
Coaching salaries: $13.6 million
Broadcast TV, Radio, Internet rights: $3.9 million

FAU

FOOTBALL
Expenses: $4.5 million
Revenues: $2.7 million
Ticket sales: $618,362

ALL SPORTS
Expenses: $16.3 million
Revenues: $16.6 million
Ticket sales: $703,809
Student fees: $8 million
Sales of programs, concessions, parking: $88,324
Royalties, licensing, advertising, sponsorship: $403,914
Coaching salaries: $3 million