Gam'n'Cheese

Bringer of Mumbo Jumbo

[Gam'n'Cheese @NickGamrath]

College Football opening weekend, and the Hoosiers are defending National Champions. Just in case you forgot or still can’t believe it, most of the time I’m right there with ya

[Gam'n'Cheese @NickGamrath]

Love. Sport.

[Indianapolis Colts @Colts]

a special moment for @cirsay from future HOFer @adamvinatieri.

[Adam Schefter @AdamSchefter]

Late Colts owner Jim Irsay’s memorabilia collection brought in $93,656,609 during live auctions from Thursday to Saturday with Christie’s, with online auctions ongoing.

Story via @DanHajducky:

https://t.co/EdtSZ2dVXt

[Gam'n'Cheese @NickGamrath]

That one's for you Gaudreau! USA!!

[Jennifer O'Regan @Jenny_ORegan]

Watching this on repeat until Sunday morning. 🇺🇸🦅

#TeamUSA #WinterOlympics

[Gam'n'Cheese @NickGamrath]

Just...so many things I never thought I'd say, think of, or wish for. Thank you Coach Cig and @IndianaFootball for one helluva season. Changed the game.

[Greg Harvey @BetweenTheNums]

FBS (or equivalent) teams to score 55+ points & win by 30+ points in seven different games in a season:

2025 Indiana
1886 Yale
1885 Princeton

[Gam'n'Cheese @NickGamrath]

I'm ready to accept it. This is the greatest team I've ever seen in my LIFE #iufb

[Joe Pompliano @JoePompliano]

Curt Cignetti will soon sign a new contract with Indiana that pays him at least $12.5 million per year.

But after digging into the numbers, Cignetti might still be the most undervalued coach in college football (and not for the reason you might think).

We all know what Cignetti has done at IU is remarkable — he turned a perennial cellar-dweller into the national championship favorite just two years after his arrival.

This has transformed IU's athletic department:

• Before the 2025 season even kicked off, ticket revenue for IU's football team had surpassed $13 million.

• Indiana announced a $50 million stadium naming rights deal with Merchants Bank.

• Fundraising has hit a record high, with billionaire IU alum Mark Cuban donating to the athletic department for the first time ever.

But that's the obvious stuff; Cignetti's real impact comes in the admissions office.

IU's football team is essentially a marketing vehicle for the university — 24 million people watched them win the Rose Bowl, 18 million watched them win the Big Ten Championship, and when College Gameday visited Indiana's campus last year, more than 2 million people watched a 3-hour commercial about the school.

This publicity is worth hundreds of millions of dollars and is having a real impact on Indiana's finances.

In 2025 alone, Indiana University set school records for total enrollment (48,626 students), freshman class size (10,127 students), first-year out-of-state students (4,697), and application volume (73,400).

Indiana University Applicants
• 2019-20: 44,178
• 2020-21: 46,623
• 2021-22: 50,159
• 2022-23: 54,345
• 2023-24: 67,731
• 2024-25: 73,400

But since IU can only admit so many students each year, they leverage the additional demand to 1) rotate the composition of their student body toward out-of-state students, and 2) become more selective academically.

Out-of-state students now account for about 50% of IU's total enrollment, with the school admitting a total of 4,697 new out-of-state students in 2025 — roughly 500 more out-of-state students than IU's previous record.

This is an important distinction because out-of-state students pay $30,000 more in annual tuition – $12,000 for Indiana residents versus $42,000 for non-residents.

500 new out-of-state students
x $30,000 tuition difference
–––––––––
= $15 million annually

If you multiply that by a four-year degree, these out-of-state students are worth $60 million more to IU than their in-state counterparts.

And since football success attracts more applicants, IU's admissions office can be more selective.

Indiana's Fall 2025 class had a median high school GPA of 3.94 — the highest in IU admissions history.

This creates a virtuous cycle.

Better sports → more applicants → better students → higher rankings. Higher rankings then lead to even more applicants, and, eventually, higher tuition revenues.

This is exactly what happened at Alabama with Nick Saban, and it's a big reason why Indiana is completely comfortable giving Cignetti new contracts every year.

P.S. If you enjoyed this breakdown, join 135,000 others who learn about the business and money behind sports by reading my 3x weekly newsletter: https://t.co/OgN8EYGDHY

[Gam'n'Cheese @NickGamrath]

If I woke up with my head stapled to the carpet, I couldn't be more surprised than I am right now #iufb

[Gam'n'Cheese @NickGamrath]

It's like a goddamn Greek tragedy

[Gam'n'Cheese @NickGamrath]

That feeling when it's good...thanks to Phillllllll effin' RIVERS

[Gam'n'Cheese @NickGamrath]

I mean, sure. At this point I'll believe anything

[Adam Schefter @AdamSchefter]

With Daniel Jones out for the year and Riley Leonard week to week with a strained knee ligament, the Colts will work out QB Philip Rivers on Tuesday, as NFL Network reported.

It is Rivers’ birthday today; he turned 44 years old and last played in the NFL in 2020.

[Gam'n'Cheese @NickGamrath]

@barstoolsports Panic mode was two weeks ago, I'm closer to shut it down or burn it down

[Gam'n'Cheese @NickGamrath]

The C1G era begins now. What a game. My brain is broken #iufb

[Gam'n'Cheese @NickGamrath]

Mission control: Colts fan returning to Earth. Over and out

[Gam'n'Cheese @NickGamrath]

Fully aware I may eat these words, OSU vs Indiana next week is what I was rooting for. Hoosiers win and it's rocket fuel with a side of history. They lose and could go into the playoffs with a nice chip on their shoulder

[Gam'n'Cheese @NickGamrath]

Give me Pittsburgh and KC in the playoffs and let's see what's what. But gotta get there first and it isn't going to get any easier. And maybe give the ball to our best player more than 15 times