As NCAA athletic department budgets for the 2025 fiscal year are starting to become public, the University of Texas is once again setting the standard.
Texas reported a record $375.9 million in expenses, according to Sportico, marking the largest expenditure by an athletic department in history. The total surpasses the school’s own previous record of $325 million in 2024 by more than $50 million.
Last year, Texas also reported the second-highest revenue mark ever, $331.9 million, alongside $325 million in expenses. That marked the first time since the NCAA began its current reporting system in 2005 that a Division I public school reported more than $300 million in both revenues and expenses in the same year.
Now, Texas has one-upped itself on the spending side. While revenue climbed again to $352.5 million, the rise in expenses leaves the department with a $23.4 million deficit after it was in a $6.9 million surplus in 2024.
The revenue mark for Texas ranks #2 all-time behind the University of Oregon’s $391 million in 2019-20, which included a one-time $270 million donation.
Texas Chief Financial Officer Rob Novak said the majority of the deficit is due to the Longhorns’ move from the Big 12 to the SEC, according to the Austin American Statesman.
Texas, along with Oklahoma, moved to the SEC one year earlier than originally agreed upon, resulting in them receiving a diminished share of the conference’s media rights payout. According to the Austin American Statesman, Texas and Oklahoma received $12.5 million, while the 14 other SEC schools received $60.1 million.
Given that, if Texas had received the full $60.1 million that other SEC schools received, its revenue could’ve come in at a stunning $400.1 million.
To reach its record spending level, Texas allocated $94 million to facilities, $53 million to coaching salaries, benefits and bonuses, $50.3 million to staff and administrators, $15 million to team travel, and $35 million to marketing and fundraising.
Football accounted for $74 million in expenses, followed by men’s basketball ($22.4 million) and women’s basketball ($11 million). Additionally, Texas spent $3.24 million on House v. NCAA-related payments to athletes, which only began on July 1, 2025. The fiscal year ended on August 31, meaning only two months of athlete payments were reflected in the report.
Another SEC school to release its athletic department budget in recent days was LSU, which reported a net revenue of $3.8 million for the program’s most profitable year since 2022, according to the Lafayette Daily Advertiser.
LSU reports $223.4 million in revenue across all sports, $66.8 million of which came from football, which was $14 million more than last year. Total operating expenses for the department came in at $219.6 million.
While football saw a significant year-over-year increase in revenue, men’s basketball’s contribution dropped by almost $200,000, and several Olympic sports – including track & field, golf and swimming & diving – also saw decreases compared to 2024.
LSU spent $44.5 million on coaching, $21.6 million of which went to the football staff. Former head coach Brian Kelly earned $10.79 million, while assistants earned a total of $10.82 million.
Despite finishing with a modest $3.8 million surplus, LSU’s increase in football revenue likely offset rising costs elsewhere. For sports like swimming & diving that saw decreases in revenue, it’s unlikely the program will see meaningful increases in operating budgets, staffing, or travel support, given how thin the line is between a surplus and deficit for the department as a whole.
Btw, patches on uniforms were just approved. Meaning ads won jerseys now. More revenue!
Say what you want about arch but that second half of the season makes me think the haters will eat there words next season
Wondering how Indiana did after a pretty good football year. Can Mark Cuban carry an athletic department?
I haven’t seen Indiana’s yet – they’re usually later in the month. Anya is going to dig into more interesting case studies over the weekend (she’s working in finance now, so she’s really keen on this stuff. Not Athletics finance, but I suspect she’ll wind up there at some point in her career).
This seems like a drop in the bucket for them. From 2022-2024 they fundraised 1+ billion for athletic department and have goal of raising 7+ billion. They got to invest in the programs to raise more money.
Amazing how Texas does this without a top 10 football team or nationally ranked basketball team. Is their spending sustainable?
It is, in fact.
FYI Basketball is probably sport #3 at UT after football and baseball.
Important to note UT only lost money because they willingly took a lower TV share from the SEC to facilitate the move from the Big 12 and in fact set aside money the last 3 years so as not to impact the academic side, knowing the net loss was coming. (and the athletic department REGULARY gives profits back to the academic side, something very few schools can manage). That’s the definition of fiscal responsibility.
Texas is 5th all time in wins. Finished 3/3/12 last 3 years and this years 12th finish featured double digit wins over 2 teams ranked… Read more »
Sounds like cope for an athletic program that is trying to buy wins and still failing.
They didn’t make the CFP that’s a failure for Texas football. Don’t sugar coat it. At least the swim team wins with their investments.
All that history and money the heisman preseason QB and high rankings but didn’t make the playoff lol
I really enjoyed that meme with Sarkisian, Kiffin, and some other football coaches on one side with the caption being something along the lines of “It takes time to win a national championship” and on the other you’ve got Cignetti and his caption is “I like winning!”
LSU spending all that money to acquire known championship winner Lane Kiffin!
At least we might not have to pay the buyout if he leaves us for Alabama!
Within 2 or 3 years they will probably have revenue over 1/2 billion, which puts their total value at something around 7-10 billion at that time. Just insane. Hopefully they can let a few bucks fall to Olympic sports because at that point it’s almost rounding errors
Am I understanding this correctly that Texas lost 23 million last year?
You are.
See above, they knew it was coming and set money aside. Will be back in the green next year per usual.
90 million in facilities probably skews it for this year. They may have chosen to book one time hits during 2025 so it’s a little more complicated than these top line numbers.
One thing is for sure, they are not worried one bit about being a little under in any given year. They are viewing this now as a business with revenue runway ahead