Al.com hit Alabama and Auburn with FOIA requests to show us the money. You won’t be surprised to learn 2016 was a berry, berry good year.
Here’s Auburn’s story, year over year:
Auburn Athletic Finances
Year Total Revenue Total Expenses Surplus/Deficit 2016 $140,070,593 $124,864,399 $15,206,194 2015 $124,657,247 $115,498,047 $9,159,200
A $16 million increase in revenue and a $6 million bump in profit is none too shabby.
Alabama did just fine, as well.
According to documents filed with the NCAA, the school’s profit increased 13.1 percent in 2016 to $18.7 million.
…To compare to Alabama’s $18.7 million total profit, Auburn’s athletics department reported a $15.2 million surplus. Auburn’s $140 million revenue was a school record, as was Alabama’s $164 million in income.
Georgia, as you no doubt know, isn’t in any hurry to respond to open records requests, so we’ll be waiting a while to hear what a great job Greg McGarity’s done in that regard. But if you’re of a mind to triangulate, you can find Georgia’s 2015 numbers here: $116,151,279 in total revenue and $19,591,972 in “surplus” (nice euphemism there). If things are fairly analogous — and you’d think they would be — Butts-Mehre is positively rolling in dough.