RandBall: Where’s the money? Gophers budget shortfall raises questions

[BleedGopher]

Per RandBall:

It would be nice if the Gophers athletics budget was as simple as 1-2-3, but nothing related to money and college sports is easy these days.

Instead, recent developments have showed us the financial math at the University of Minnesota broadly and the athletic department specifically is as complicated as 6-7-8.

As in: Tuition for in-state undergrads at the Twin Cities campus is going up 6.5% next season, academic programs are getting cut by 7% and the athletic department projects an $8.75 million deficit between revenues and expenses in 2025-26.

The math, as they say, is not math-ing.

The only easy part is understanding why the athletic department has such a gap. At this time last year, the Gophers’ budget presented by AD Mark Coyle was projected at around $150 million.

This year, Coyle is projecting revenues at $165.47 million and expenses at $174.22 million.

The additional revenue largely seems to come from TV and media money paid out by the Big Ten. That was pegged at about $63 million in the 2024 fiscal year while estimates have put it around $75 million for the 2025 fiscal year, a bump of $12 million.

The additional expenses are almost all from settled lawsuits that allow schools to pay their athletes. The Gophers are paying the full allowable amount, about $20.5 million, a huge new expense that accounts for about 12% of their budget.

RandBall: Where’s the money? Gophers budget shortfall raises questions

The University of Minnesota athletic department projects a nearly $9 million budget deficit this season. How to close it remains to be seen.

www.startribune.com

Go Gophers!!

 

[minnyrules11]

Cut a few sports like Baseball, Golf, probably some other useless ones where can’t compete in anymore or never did in first place reduces a lot of those expenses. Not even top 25 in rowing?

 

[GophersInIowa]

The non revenue sports should go back to playing mostly regional only to cut down on travel costs. The tennis team traveled to California to get beat by USC and UCLA. The track team traveled to invitationals in Texas, Florida, North Carolina, Florida, Oklahoma, California, California, and Louisiana.

 

[swede2]

Because of Title IX, Men's non-revenue sports will bear the brunt of the budget shortfalls. They'll need to be privately financed or will get axed. The problem is that you would damn near need to cut all sports besides FB, MBB and MH to balance the budget and that won't sit well with some.

University of Minnesota - Twin Cities Athletics Programs

What sports are offered at University of Minnesota - Twin Cities? Learn how each athletic ranks, how much revenue it brings in, the average sports aid per student athlete at UMN Twin Cities, and more.

www.collegefactual.com

 

[GopherGrit]

Cut a few sports like Baseball, Golf, probably some other useless ones where can’t compete in anymore or never did in first place reduces a lot of those expenses. Not even top 25 in rowing?

Will be tough to cut women's sports (rowing), because of Title IX.

If the SEC and other southern conferences won't give northern teams a fair chance to be competitive in baseball by expanding the season, then I agree, we should get out of the baseball business.

Agree on golf, tennis as well. (for men's)

Here is the matrix on which schools sponsor which varsity sports: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Ten_Conference#Men's_sponsored_sports_by_school

 

[goldenboy]

I’m not sure Rand’s “report is reporting.” Was his mention of the cuts to the U’s general budget and the tuition increase just background on the financial climate? That’s not the way he wrote it. He ties that in with the athletic department budget shortfall. Surely he knows that’s a distinctly separate budget. Tough to get the “mathing to math” when you’re mashing together two different formulas.

 

[99Gopher]

The non revenue sports should go back to playing mostly regional only to cut down on travel costs. The tennis team traveled to California to get beat by USC and UCLA. The track team traveled to invitationals in Texas, Florida, North Carolina, Florida, Oklahoma, California, California, and Louisiana.

If we're going to pick non-revenue sports to go after, then let's at least pick the sports we aren't competitive in. In the most recent track and field season (2024-2025), the University of Minnesota's men's team achieved a historic seventh-place finish at the NCAA Outdoor Championships, their best since 1948. The team also finished second at the Big Ten Championships. As for the women, they won the Big Ten Outdoor Championship, their fourth in program history and first since 2018.

 

[swede2]

One of the biggest money sucks at the U.is women's basketball with about a $4 million per negative margin. Unless the barn starts seeing routine capacity crowds for women's hoops, that negative margin will only grow.

 

[maroonfive]

Lol. If you are going to cut sports we shouldn't be in the Big Ten. The problem is the disconnect with alumni. Southern teams seem to love their teams more. They have no problem donating. This is embarrassing actually.