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Indianapolis Star
12-06-2025
- Business
- Indianapolis Star
Paying players, private equity, roster limits: What House settlement means for Purdue
Purdue athletic director Mike Bobinski has publicly welcomed the revenue sharing era of college sports as a way to even the playing field and stabilize a volatile name, image and likeness market. When judge Claudia Wilken gave final approval to terms of the House vs. NCAA settlement last week, Bobinski's letter to the Purdue community stressed the competitive upside — and the financial urgency — for the Boilermakers. The initial $20.5 million which can be shared — and which Bobinski has said Purdue will fully utilize — is not the only added expense. Bobinski said Purdue will increase the number of athletic scholarships awarded in some sports. He asked for expanded support for the John Purdue Club, the primary athletics fundraising organization. He also urged contributions to athletics through the university's "Victories & Heroes: Your Campaign for Purdue" initiative. "This moment requires all of us — alumni, fans, donor and friends — to step up and be bold," Bobinski wrote. "… Your support is not just appreciated — it is absolutely essential." Here's what we know about what the settlement term means for Purdue, and how it is moving forward. Bobinski stated early and often Purdue will participate fully in revenue sharing. That $20.5 million obligation would have equated to 15.2% of the athletic department's income for the 2023-24 fiscal year based on its annual report to the NCAA. (Figures for 2024-25 are not yet available.) Additionally, the NCAA's agreement to pay $2.6 billion in back pay damages to former athletes come out of its annual distributions to member schools. Purdue expects to receive about $1.2 million per year less from the NCAA for the next decade. It received $4.47 million in 2023-24. Dating back to the hire of Barry Odom in December, both Bobinski and President Mung Chiang have suggested a change to the university's financial relationship with athletics will help close the budget gap. Per records compiled by the USA Today Network in partnership with the Knight-Newhouse College Athletics Database, Purdue was one of 11 Division I athletic programs from the more than 230 public schools in the 2023 fiscal year which either received no revenue from its university (eight) or returned any revenue it received (three). Among the ways the university could help athletics would be to take on debt obligations. Purdue listed $14.5 million in "debt service, leases or rental fees" on its 2023-24 NCAA financial report. Direct overhead and administrative expenses — things like facilities maintenance, security, insurance and utilities — accounted for almost $13 million in expenses. An announcement on the specific details will come. Whatever the solution, belt-tightening alone won't get an already lean athletic department to its $20.5 million goal. It remains to be seen how transparent Purdue will be about which sports receive what percentage of the revenue-sharing pool. However, based on reports from around the country, estimates have power conference schools allotting 70% to 75% to football and 15% to 20% to men's basketball. The sports which by far bring in the most money will receive the lion's share. Not much will change for Purdue's marquee sports. Odom said he expects to operate on the traditional 85-scholarship limit within the new roster limit of 105. Walk-ons can make up that gap. Men's basketball can use up to 15 scholarships, but don't expect coach Matt Painter to fill up that allotment often, if at all. Keeping 13 players satisfied with their roles in any given year is difficult enough. Also, teams have the option of grandfathering in current athletes who would otherwise put them over those roster limits. This most likely applies to walk-ons who will be allowed to keep their spot until their career is over. Bobinski's mention of adding scholarships might impact the non-full scholarship sports, which is everything outside of football, men's and women's basketball and volleyball. Baseball used to be limited to 11.7 scholarships, distributed at the coach's discretion, on a roster three or four times that numberr. Going forward, teams are not beholden to those scholarship limits. However, they cannot exceed newly established roster limits. Baseball, for instance, can have up to 34 players on its roster. Purrdue's roster from this past season included 44 names. In most other sports, based on rosters posted on the athletics website, Purdue operated below or near the new limits. It has known this new structure was coming for months. Within the Big Ten, the impact will likely vary from school to school. In purely speculative example, historic wrestling powers Iowa and Penn State could offer more scholarships in that sport than most schools. Athletes can still earn income beyond their revenue share cut through those avenues currently associated with NIL: endorsements, brand campaigns, online influencing, etc. In his letter, Bobinski announced the formation of Boiler BrandWorks. Described as an "in-house student-athlete marketing and brand-building unit," this new arm of the athletic department will help athletes find and develop NIL deals with local and national businesses. 'Not everybody is marketable.' Purdue coach Matt Painter welcomes 'balance' House settlement brings Per the university's athletics careers website, it is hiring a director of NIL strategy and athlete marketing who will oversee Boiler BrandWorks. Even with revenue share, programs will need to show they can maximize the earnings potential of their most marketable athletes. (Think Zach Edey, Braden Smith or football quarterbacks.) This new administrator and department are responsible for making that happen. The 501c3 non-profit collective associated with the athletic department continues to operate. It was involved with the finalization of deal such as those struck by returning and incoming men's basketball players and football's two dozen-plus spring transfer portal additions. Last winter, though, Bobinski predicted the end of the philanthropic model of NIL fundraising. Schools will no longer need to hook players up with deals attached to charitable organizations or activities. However, a 501c6 entity known as Boiler Up Inc. also operates in conjunction with Boilermaker Alliance. The main difference between the two types of non-profits is Boiler Up Inc. can raise money through memberships or fundraising without any charitable endeavors. This setup or something similar is fairly common at power conference athletic programs. In recent months, more collectives have begun sunsetting their 501c3 to focus on their other platform — some of which are for-profit LLCs. IU's Hoosiers For Good announced last December it would cease operations early this year. Purdue could keep some version of the current collective to facilitate fundraising beyond the John Purdue Club and the new, in-house marketing arm. College athletic programs across the country have begun to partner with private equity firms, or are exploring the idea. These firms would not take a stake in the athletic program. Rather, they would offer a private source of credit paid back over time. Finance bump: Indiana, Purdue received roughly $62 million of Big Ten's $928 million in revenue. What it means Such a relationship could make sense for Purdue if it directly led to a long-term revenue enhancement. For example, taking private credit to fund an important facility or resource enhancement without asking for the money from the university. However, Purdue prides itself on fiscal responsibility. It typically does not lead the pack in creative ways to spend money it does not have. This could be a realistic opportunity in time, depending on how the market evolves.
Yahoo
07-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Texas athletics totals $331.9 million in revenue in 2024 after move to SEC
The Texas Longhorns athletic department brought in an amazing $331.9 million in revenue during the 2024 fiscal year while spending $327.8 for its 21 sports and 558 student athletes. That's according to the Knight-Newhouse College Athletics Database and Texas, who have only been in the SEC for less than a full academic year, topped the new conference in revenue. UT was ahead of Texas A&M ($266.4 million), Georgia ($241.8 million) and Alabama ($234.8 million). Advertisement Texas spent over $65 million on football in FY '24, with almost $23 million of that going to coaching salaries. But that was more than balanced because the Texas football program football took in an incredible $204.7 million in revenue. No other SEC team topped $150 million in revenue. As a result, the Longhorn football program had a $138.9 million surplus in FY '24. Five SEC programs operated at a loss in FY '24: South Caroline, Mississippi State, Ole Miss, Missouri, and Alabama. Al others operated at a surplus, with Georgia boasting $47.5 million in surplus funds. This article originally appeared on Longhorns Wire: Texas athletics tops $331 million in revenue in 2024
USA Today
07-05-2025
- Business
- USA Today
Texas athletics totals $331.9 million in revenue in 2024 after move to SEC
Texas athletics totals $331.9 million in revenue in 2024 after move to SEC The Texas Longhorns athletic department brought in an amazing $331.9 million in revenue during the 2024 fiscal year while spending $327.8 for its 21 sports and 558 student athletes. That's according to the Knight-Newhouse College Athletics Database and Texas, who have only been in the SEC for less than a full academic year, topped the new conference in revenue. UT was ahead of Texas A&M ($266.4 million), Georgia ($241.8 million) and Alabama ($234.8 million). Texas spent over $65 million on football in FY '24, with almost $23 million of that going to coaching salaries. But that was more than balanced because the Texas football program football took in an incredible $204.7 million in revenue. No other SEC team topped $150 million in revenue. As a result, the Longhorn football program had a $138.9 million surplus in FY '24. Five SEC programs operated at a loss in FY '24: South Caroline, Mississippi State, Ole Miss, Missouri, and Alabama. Al others operated at a surplus, with Georgia boasting $47.5 million in surplus funds.
USA Today
24-04-2025
- Business
- USA Today
Kentucky planning overhaul of college athletics department into new school corporate entity
Kentucky planning overhaul of college athletics department into new school corporate entity Show Caption Hide Caption How coaches salaries and the NIL bill affects college football Dan Wolken breaks down the annual college football coaches compensation package to discuss salaries and how the NIL bill affects them. Sports Pulse The University of Kentucky is moving toward housing its athletics department under a new university corporate entity that school officials say will improve their flexibility to handle rising financial pressure from the proposed settlement of three athlete-compensation antitrust cases against the NCAA and Power Five conferences and related demands. Kentucky athletics director Mitch Barnhart and the university's executive vice president for finance and administration, Eric Monday, said they were unsure of whether the new entity – being called Champions Blue LLC – would be unique in college sports. But they said that, within the school's structure, it is being modeled on entities under which its hospitals and other medical services enterprises are housed. Implementation of the new athletics structure is pending approvals from the Kentucky board of trustees' athletics committee, which was meeting April 24, and the full board, which is scheduled to meet April 25. Kentucky's athletics department had nearly $202 million in operating revenue and nearly $197 million operating expense in its 2023-24 fiscal year, according to the annual financial report it submits to the NCAA. That puts the Wildcats among the top 15 publics schools in both categories, according to data compiled by USA TODAY Sports in conjunction with its partnership with the Knight-Newhouse College Athletics Database at Syracuse University. Barnhart said the athletics department estimates that its expenses for the 2025-26 fiscal year will increase by around $50 million because of the proposed class-action settlement, which failed to receive final approval from a federal judge on April 23 – although the judge is giving the principals 14 days to work out issues related to a component of the deal that the judge ruled is unfair to a sizable group of athlete plaintiffs. If approved, Division I schools would be able to start paying athletes directly for use of their name, image and likeness (NIL), subject to a per-school cap that would increase over time and be based on a percentage of certain athletics revenues. In addition, the NCAA's current system of team-by-team scholarship limits would be lifted and athletes would continue to be allowed to have NIL deals with non-school entities. Barnhart and Kentucky spokesman Jay Blanton said the estimated $50 million increase in expenses comes from its expected NIL payments to athletes (likely $20 million to $23 million), an increase in the number of athletic scholarships it awards ($4 million to $5 million), inflation, spending by the school in connection with efforts it can make to assist athletes with outside NIL deal and an expected loss of sponsorship revenue from companies that instead choose to make NIL deals with athletes. Monday and Barnhart said that the new entity would allow the athletics department to undertake a variety of business development opportunities and to offer pay and benefit programs to employees – and potentially to athletes – that it cannot under current university policies or cannot do so in an efficient manner. Barnhart and Monday mentioned public-private partnerships and a number of athletic facility and fan-experience projects. 'You've heard other departments talk about business districts and things like that,' Barnhart said. 'And those are conversations that are all on the table but really difficult to perform in our current structure. And so this gives us more flexibility to do that.' Wake Forest, Oklahoma and Kansas are among schools working on mixed-use projects that include new or refurbished athletics facilities. 'We've got some ideas on some things that we're going to have to run the run the traps on, so to speak, to say, 'Hey, does this work? Does it make sense? Can it produce the things we think are necessary for us to move forward?' Barnhart said. 'I do know this … in the old way of life, there were literally four to five buckets that you got all of your revenue from. We're going to have those four to five buckets become eight to 10 buckets, and we're going to have to figure out other ways to do our work.'
Yahoo
28-01-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Texas athletics department topped $300 million in revenue and operating expenses in 2024
The University of Texas athletics department again has shown its status as a national college sports business leviathan, recording $331.9 million in operating revenues and $325 million in operating expenses during its 2024 fiscal year, according to its new financial report to the NCAA. The USA TODAY Network obtained the document Monday through an open-records request made in conjunction with its partnership with the Knight-Newhouse College Athletics Database at Syracuse University. This is the first time since the NCAA began its current reporting system in 2005 that a Division I public school has reported more than $300 million in both revenues and expenses in the same year. It also is the largest single-year spending total, exceeding the $292.3 million that Ohio State reported for fiscal 2024 in a disclosure that occurred earlier on Monday. However, a separate independent accounting report also obtained Monday through an open-records request showed several caveats to Texas' new figures. The largest of those on the revenue side was what the accountants' report described as a 'large one-time donation to fund the construction of the new Moody Center,' an on-campus arena that opened in spring 2022. Altogether, Texas reported receiving $133.9 million in contributions during a fiscal year ending Aug. 31, 2024 — nearly $48 million more than it reported receiving in fiscal 2023. The rise in contributions also was attributed to 'a general increase in pledge donations due to increased fundraising efforts, aided by the success of the football team' which went 12-2 during the 2023 season, won the Big 12 championship and played in a College Football Playoff semifinal. The precise donation amount for the arena was not provided, but the report stated that a $53.6 million increase in Texas' facilities expenses in 2024 was 'due to a $43 million payment on the Moody Center funded' in part through contributions. Similarly, Oregon reported $391.8 million in revenue for 2020, but that included more than $270 million as a contribution for the renovation of its track and field stadium. But even with $43 million taken out of Texas' 2024 revenue and expense figures, the totals are $288.9 million in operating revenue and $282 million in operating expense, not including nearly $2.8 million that the athletics department reported transferring to the institution. And those revenue and expense figures still are among the greatest single-year amounts recorded by a public school. Texas' final report to the NCAA shows that it sponsors 21 teams. Ohio State, for example, reports sponsoring 35 teams. Texas' figures for 2024 reflect its position over the course of its final year as a member of the Big 12 Conference. And it was due a full share of conference revenue for that year. The report from Texas' independent accountant shed light on other major differences between the department's 2023 and 2024 figures, and those do reflect the beginning of the Longhorns' affiliation with the Southeastern Conference. Among the revenue categories, Texas reported $68.8 million from royalties, licensing, advertisements and sponsorships. That represents a $14.1 million increase from 2023. The accountant report said this was due to a change in reporting methodology. 'Historically,' the report said, 'royalties and sponsorship revenue have been reported net of the related expenses. Based upon guidance from the NCAA, the Department now reports these revenues and related expenses on a gross basis as to not underreport earned revenues.' Connected to this was a $17.7 million increase in overhead and administrative expense that was partially attributed to the methodology change, but also to expenses for an additional home football game and other factors including 'an increase to the operating budget for the new Texas Studios, which replaced the Longhorn Network,' the accountant report said. The Longhorn Network was altered as part Texas' move to the SEC, which included a transfer of the rights to live events to the SEC Network. Texas' increases in pay to coaches (up by $7.1 million, compared to 2023) and in severance ($1.8 million) were more conventional. The accounting report said those were connected to a raise and amended contract for football head coach Steve Sarkisian that took effect Jan. 1, 2024, and buyouts from coaching changes in baseball and men's swimming. Sarkisian's pay from the school increased from $5.6 million for the 2023 season to $10.6 million for the 2024 season, including a $300,000 one-time payment in April 2024 This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Texas athletics exceeded $300 million in revenue and operating expenses
