AirForceDawg has done his annual dive into the financial information available at the U.S. Department of Education’s Equity in Athletics Data Analysis (EADA) website and come up with the numbers for the fourteen SEC schools for the most current fiscal year. (For year-over-year comparison purposes, you might want to review last year’s post on the subject.)
If you’re wondering whether Georgia did okay, well, judge for yourself.
– Revenues: $176,699,894
– Expenses: $124,029,698
– Profit: $52,670,196– Men’s Teams
— Revenue: $142,260,691
— Expenses: $61,790,672
— Profit: $80,470,019– Women’s Teams
— Revenue: $4,704,781
— Expenses: $19,328,309
— Losses: -$14,623,528– Football
— Revenue: $129,023,591
— Expenses: $44,909,546
— Profit: $84,114,045– Men’s Basketball
— Revenue: $10,252,418
— Expenses: $8,539,387
— Profit: $1,713,031
Overall athletic department revenue is up and so is the net profit. The real eye-opener is football profit, which increased from $56,947,313 in fiscal year 2017 to an astounding $84,114,045. Doing the math, it appears that almost $32 million of that figure went into subsidizing other programs besides men’s basketball and, of course, general administrative expenses.
The comparison with Georgia’s thirteen SEC peers is quite remarkable, as well.
1. Georgia: $176,699,894 Revenue, $124,029,698 Expenses, $52,670,196 Profit
2. Alabama: $181,470,156 Revenue, $149,583,715 Expenses, $31,886,441 Profit
3. Auburn: $147,620,572 Revenue, $132,354,047 Expenses, $15,266,525 Profit
4. Mississippi State: $93,752,613 Revenue, $83,560,214 Expenses, $10,192,399 Profit
5. Texas A&M: $152,971,142 Revenue, $143,231,483 Expenses, $9,739,659 Profit
6. LSU: $145,422,795 Revenue, $137,451,522 Expenses, $7,971,273 Profit
7. Vanderbilt: $80,093,541 Revenue, $74,070,975 Expenses, $6,022,566 Profit
8. Arkansas: $132,545,645 Revenue, $130,595,275 Expenses, $1,950,370 Profit
9. Kentucky: $125,462,485 Revenue, $125,236,165, $226,320 Profit
10. South Carolina: $140,084,150 Revenue, $139,972,480 Expenses, $111,670 Profit
T11. Florida: $157,240,476 Revenue, $157,240,476 Expenses, $0 Profit
T11. Tennessee: $142,686,084 Revenue, $142,686,084 Expenses, $0 Profit
T11. Ole Miss: $99,157,535 Revenue, $99,157,535 Expenses, $0 Profit
T11. Missouri: $93,744,322 Revenue, $93,744,322 Expenses, $0 Profit
When you add it up, the total profit the other 13 schools racked up totaled $83,267,223, an average of $6,405,171. As a percentage, Georgia’s profit alone comprised 38.75% of the SEC’s total profit. Yowza!
Believe it or not, I mention this not as a lead in to a rant about player exploitation, but simply to note that you’d think with all that money available, Greg McGarity could pilot an athletic department to a more robust result in the NACDA Learfield Directors’ Cup than a mediocre 25th-place finish [Ed. note: current showing, pending baseball results] overall and sixth best in the SEC. But that would mean caring as much about general athletic excellence as the reserve account balance, and that’s not how the Georgia Way is wired.
I keep coming back to this quote from McGarity when he was hired.
McGarity, who played and coached tennis at Georgia and worked in its athletic administration before leaving for Florida, said “there is nothing greater than being part of championships. That’s why we do what we do.
“At the end of the day,” he continued, “all the time you put in at the office, the fun comes when you’re competing for championships and you see what these coaches have done over a number of years to finally get to the top of the mountain and you’re able to be just a small piece of that.”
You having fun yet, Georgia fans?
We may not have the athletic director we want, but we do have the athletic director the powers that be think we deserve.
Given they’re all “non-profit” institutions, shouldn’t they all strive to be tied for 11th?
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He’s got it figured out. Find a customer who will shell out for a half ass experience with no payoff in the end. He should open a restaurant where the waitstaff pisses on your appetizer and main course before setting it down. They then dangle a delicious non pissed on dessert in front of your face before handing it to the Alabama fan with the full back Bear Bryant tattoo.
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Master plan supporting all the teams.
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Maybe one day they can sling a little of that to the Rugby team.
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Why? Rugby is not a ncaa sport.
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We should enlist our Biarritz blitzer (Richard Tardits) to support adding rugby as a scholly sport. In addition to his NFL career he played for the USA Eagles in the 1999 Rugby World Cup.
I highly recommend watching rugby if you haven’t. Go AllBlacks!
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It’s not even a ncaa sport and now you want to give scholarships?
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Have any of y’all ever been in New Zealand when the Allblacks have a match? That whole country stops everything to watch.
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This is being blasted through the halls of the Butts-Mehre Heritage Hall right now:
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Long live Freddie – damn he was GOOD
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And that’s another Bulldog POINT OF PRIDE!
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As a comparison, what were the numbers like when Dooley was there and we were placing in the top 5 or so in the sears cup every year?
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McGoofy is very good at spending other people’s money (e.g., private donors), but not so much when it comes to the UGAA’s money.
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Alabama would have won easily on profits but they invested heavily in officiating.
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Shouldn’t have stinted in the national title game. 😉
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‘Bama’s expenses exceeded the revenue take of 9 SEC teams.
That extra set of statisticians costs money. ‘Bama probably owns more individual athlete’s data than PHA has fingerprints.
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I posted this in the other thread earlier in the week about concessions. as a food & bev concessions “insider”, I estimate professional concessions labor at Sanford for the entire season would cost ~$100K, which is a rounding error in those figures above. You could then do a capital investment of about $200K for a new integrated POS system that would most likely result in shorter lines, more sales, and pay for itself in less than 3 years
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Thank you for that point. Unless it is recruiting amenities and Reserve Fund McGarity does not care. His attitude is that concession buyers need to form an organization to raise money for concession stand improvements. After all, he has a staffer to bring him a Coke whenever he wants it.
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the funny thing is, the company i work for that specializes in this business has the account for the Classic Center, so there is already a large scale professional F&B infrastructure in place in town. i have half a mind to inquire as to if they have pitched our services to Greg.
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That would be interesting to know.
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2nd in the conference in total revenue… yet even after Kirby has been here 3 years and with all the new toys he’s gotten I’m a little surprised to see that we’re still 10th in spending. Imagine what a small 20% (10 million for the mathematically challenged) of that net profit could do for the “fan experience” in Sanford. But it won’t happen because heaven forbid the reserve fund be sitting at a meager $160 million versus $170… I’m sure some Magill Society members will foot the bill if they’re really concerned about the issue.
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Instead of spending on “fan experience”, most of this money is parked into the Endowment Fund where it is generating revenue to pay for Scholarships. Morehead’s long term goal is for the Endowment to cover 100% of established financial need for all students.
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And yet instead of easing prices they are doing things like making the Georgia Museum of Art lot a $20 fee instead of free like it used to be. Now there’s no incentive to pay for the parking deck
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Yeah, this is the kind of stuff that grinds my gears. A large portion of that money should go to the University at large, to eliminate “activity” fees for students, scholarships, update facilities, etc.
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Is UGA owned by Liberty Media?
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As Brandon M points out despite the demands by McGarity that the fans pay more and more only Mississippi State, Ole Miss, Vandy and Missouri spend less than us on sports.
Why do the fans and boosters need to give more?
UGA spends 70.19% of its revenues, by far the lowest percentage in the SEC. I did the math:
UF, UT, Ole Miss, Mizzou 100%
99.92% USC
99.82% UK
98.53% ARK
94.52% LSU
93.63% T A & M
92.48% VANDY
89.66% AU
89.13% MSU
82.43% Ala
70.19% UGA
If UGA just spent the same percentage as the 13th ranked team, Alabama, it would have $21,621,946.14 to use on its teams that would not have to come from ticket prices, Magill perks, etc.
What if ARF told you it would put 30 cents of every dollar you gave into a savings account, never to be spent, would you continue to give to it or would you find a different charity?
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The money doesn’t go into a savings account never to be spent. It sits parked in the Endowment generating wealth so as to provide scholarships in perpetuity.
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That is not what UGAA annual reports to Hartman Fund contributors says. UGAA reports annual contributions then has a nice chart showing us what UGAA does with those additional yearly donations. I’m don’t have those reports in front of me but they quantify how much UGAA uses for scholarships. UGAA tells us it uses annual income from contributions to provide scholarships, not income from the Reserve Fund.
McGarity himself calld it a “rainy day fund” and has also compared it to a 401(k), as if UGAA needs to plan for when it retires.
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I know. When you get the report, you will see that five million are handed to the University directly to pay for scholarships for that year. The rest goes into the Reserve Fund. Roughly half the reserve fund in is cash-equivalent accounts or investment vehicles that pay a return to the Athletics Association. The other rough half is placed into the Endowment generating income for the University’s academic mission while the principal remains owned by the Athletic Association. As profits get larger, the portion that site in the Endowment gets larger.
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The thing that jumps out to me is that UGA is being outspent in the operational expenses for football by a very large margin.
Almost 2 to 1 between UGA and Bama.
UGA $5,617,570
Clemson $7,544,554
Bama $9,701,496
Auburn $8,754,154
It could just be an account issue of how things are reported, but it can’t be 50% cheaper to operate a football team in Athens than it is in Tuscaloosa.
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We are going to continue to trail in the Learfield Director’s cup. Other Schools in our conference are funding these sports and coaching staffs and establishing these programs while our Athletic department counts it’s profits. We are 10th in the SEC in what we spend on sports overall. We are sixth out of the big six by over 8 million dollars. Take those profits and fund the teams, the facilities and pay the coaches. Baseball, Tennis, Swimming and Diving, etc…all need updates for once proud programs. We have an up and coming track and field program and it’s crazy the facility they have to use compared to ANYONE in the SEC. Build out South Milledge with new track and field complex and Baseball complex (https://arkansasrazorbacks.com/new-additions-for-baseball-and-track-facilities-coming-soon/). Improve the South Milledge complex for the other sports there while your at it…Damn…just give me a master plan so I see what you plan on doing with all of those profits.
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I’m here in Athens all week while my son is at The Diaz tennis camp. The tennis complex is worse than I thought. Looks the same as when I graduated in 1997. Even my 10 year old son asked why the bathrooms are so old and smelly.
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He’s just getting ready to be able to pay em when it comes to that.
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These numbers do refute the commonly stated incorrect position that Title IX requires equal funding for men’s and women’s teams.
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Title IX is clear about mandating equal opportunity… equal spending, not so much.
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Always has been, always will be…The”Directors” Cup is the tip of my view of the ad’s progression towards “a small piece of that”, should he be handcuffed (BM) and has no voice/decision making,… let next years contract expire and move on…i don’t pretend to know whut the ad proposes to the board (or between his ears), just seeing some of the venues (fan experience) as they currently exist and no 2/5/10 year plan is pure, steamy fresh horse shit…don’t want UGA coaches changed just for the sake of change,but..if the ad makes the statement that championships is what UGA is after, that horse shit falls on his loafers… looking at the sec teams involved at tournament time, this is a tough league to win in…the ad has hitched his star to the Football program, giving the others token mention, (only when forced to) for that he can kiss my pale white ass…!
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