Straws in the Wind - Part 430 (athletics)

From the US Government Accountability Office (GAO): Intercollegiate athletics at four-year colleges in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) are organized into divisions, subdivisions, and conferences. Division I (DI) colleges compete at the highest level and can offer students full athletics scholarships. Division II (DII) colleges typically offer partial athletics scholarships. In both divisions, expenses for most athletic programs were greater than the revenue they generated, according to GAO’s analysis of NCAA data for the 2014–15 and 2023–24 academic years.

In the 2023–24 academic year, the 352 DI colleges reported spending a total of $20.8 billion on athletics, which largely went to team and game expenses (including travel, equipment, and medical expenses), coach and support staff compensation, and athletics scholarships. The 69 “Power” colleges in the most competitive DI conferences accounted for more than half of this spending. To help cover athletics expenses, DI college athletics programs generated $13.1 billion in revenue during the 2023–24 academic year. Power colleges generated $10 billion of this total amount, primarily through the sale of media rights to broadcast games, game day revenue (including ticket sales), and donations.

Across DI colleges, 94 percent of athletics programs, including 49 of the 69 Power colleges, spent more than they generated in revenue in the 2023–24 academic year. The median college reported a gap of $20.6 million. This gap was larger than the median a decade earlier ($12.3 million). Over this period, spending increased more than generated revenue in all DI subdivisions. As generated revenue generally did not cover program expenses, most DI colleges reported contributing substantial funding to support athletics programs. Colleges contributed a total of $7.2 billion in the 2023–24 academic year. These college contributions are funded by tuition and fees paid by students, as well as other unrestricted funds from the college, such as income from investments. College contributions indirectly include federal funds students receive in federal student aid to pay their tuition and fees...

All DII athletics programs spent more than the revenue they generated in the 2023–24 academic year. Combined, they spent $2.7 billion that year. To help cover this spending, they generated $0.4 billion and received $2.3 billion in college contributions...

Full report at https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-26-108640.