Half of Big Ten Athletic Departments lost millions in 2024; Indiana, OSU both lost $37M. Rutgers $70M. UCLA $83M!

CatManTrue · Jan 31, 2026

This table was recently released and made headlines: profitability by AD from 2022-2024. Northwestern & U$C aren’t listed as private schools, but wow.

Nebraska is consistently profitable and appears to be the best managed Athletic Department, while OSU’s profits declined by $60M!

Meanwhile viewership of the B1G Network is declining, contract renewal is up for renegotiation in 2030, and both Michigag & O$U will be asking why they make the same TV revenues as us and Rutgers.

Even if the B1G doesn’t end, I guarantee the revenue sharing model will change in a few years. Interesting times - will the B1G survive?

techtim72 · Jan 31, 2026

I really dislike these sorts of figures that do not explain how they are calculated although I read another thread here that was explanatory of the NCAA reporting. Included among other items donations, scholarships and at least some accounting for capital costs. However, assuming that the methodology has remained consistent over time for each school, the takeaway is that the "profitability" has dramatically declined in the past two years, probably but not definitively because of the advent of revenue sharing and NIL. Ouch. Doesn't appear sustainable.

AdamOnFirst · Jan 31, 2026

Rutgers and UCLA being over half the entire conference deficit by themselves is absolutely wild

chicagocatfan4 · Jan 31, 2026

AdamOnFirst said:
Rutgers and UCLA being over half the entire conference deficit by themselves is absolutely wild

I'd imagine the coastal schools have to pay a **** ton for travel for all sports....

AdamOnFirst · Jan 31, 2026

chicagocatfan4 said:
I'd imagine the coastal schools have to pay a **** ton for travel for all sports....

Not a major issue. Rutgers' entire travel budget across the entire department is only $13M. Wisconsin's was $11M.

bringbacktherantboard · Jan 31, 2026

techtim72 said:
Ouch. Doesn't appear sustainable.

I keep saying that (and it's already killing the G5 conferences), but it doesn't seem to stop the arms race amongst the P4 schools.

The bubble will have to pop eventually.

jne381 · Jan 31, 2026

My goodness what is Rutgers doing?

Baz = Heisman · Jan 31, 2026

Good thing we blew up regional conferences that actually mattered and paid players who were already getting a $200,000+ educational/boarding/food/etc value though! #CollegeSportsIsDying

AdamOnFirst · Jan 31, 2026

jne381 said:
My goodness what is Rutgers doing?

There was a large article about it

Rutgers athletics hits record $78 million deficit. New AD says ‘It’s got to get better.’

The school spent a record $193 million on athletics even as its deficit grows

www.nj.com

Their biggest issue is their donation revenue is disastrous: less than $10 M a year. The average Big Ten team averages over $38 M a year! That’s a $30M hole right off the bat and most of their actual deficit (the $78 M deficit figure doesn’t account for the fact that they’ve got $30M in revenue from the school’s general fund, student fees, and a direct state appropriation). They also have less than $10 M a year in football ticket revenue, which is really bad. So their revenue and support is simply a disaster, they don’t have the support or fan base to be a Big Ten team, frankly.

It doesn’t help that they’re one of the programs with a pretty significant amount of facility construction debt. When you don’t have donors and try to engage in a building explosion based on fantasies of generating revenues that don’t materialize… it’s bad. Having a rich guy to put all the money up front when you build stuff is a lot better.

hdhntr1 · Feb 1, 2026

CatManTrue said:
This table was recently released and made headlines: profitability by AD from 2022-2024. Northwestern & U$C aren’t listed as private schools, but wow.

Nebraska is consistently profitable and appears to be the best managed Athletic Department, while OSU’s profits declined by $60M!

Meanwhile viewership of the B1G Network is declining, contract renewal is up for renegotiation in 2030, and both Michigag & O$U will be asking why they make the same TV revenues as us and Rutgers.

Even if the B1G doesn’t end, I guarantee the revenue sharing model will change in a few years. Interesting times - will the B1G survive?

View attachment 1171204

I am guessing that the West Coast programs are not yet getting a full share and they were not even in the BIG the years in question, It also likely depends on what is being included and how, Thought I saw in another post where Rutgers losses included student fees and other contributions as part of the deficit, These items are typically part of the income side and more a matter of where the funds come from, Does not really make sense how it was presented..

JoeWildcat · Feb 1, 2026

CatManTrue said:
This table was recently released and made headlines: profitability by AD from 2022-2024. Northwestern & U$C aren’t listed as private schools, but wow.

Nebraska is consistently profitable and appears to be the best managed Athletic Department, while OSU’s profits declined by $60M!

Meanwhile viewership of the B1G Network is declining, contract renewal is up for renegotiation in 2030, and both Michigag & O$U will be asking why they make the same TV revenues as us and Rutgers.

Even if the B1G doesn’t end, I guarantee the revenue sharing model will change in a few years. Interesting times - will the B1G survive?

View attachment 1171204

Many years ago I was involved with the NCAA, and so I paid a lot of attention to these types of numbers. Rutgers ran the largest deficits in the country year after year (around $20 million); way worse than the next school. Their President said it was unsustainable and they were going to correct it. But each year it has gotten worse. I don’t know how they can keep absorbing these losses. The big caveat though is that there is a lot of leeway/hand waving in terms of how capital costs and overhead are allocated from school to school, but it seems hard to imagine how this can continue at Rutgers or even UCLA.

AdamOnFirst · Feb 1, 2026

JoeWildcat said:
Many years ago I was involved with the NCAA, and so I paid a lot of attention to these types of numbers. Rutgers ran the largest deficits in the country year after year (around $20 million); way worse than the next school. Their President said it was unsustainable and they were going to correct it. But each year it has gotten worse. I don’t know how they can keep absorbing these losses. The big caveat though is that there is a lot of leeway/hand waving in terms of how capital costs and overhead are allocated from school to school, but it seems hard to imagine how this can continue at Rutgers or even UCLA.

Yeah, Rutgers has been doing this **** for literally decades. They’re a weird school l. And UCLA has had bad issues for a long time too. It’s interesting how their issues dwarf everyone else.
And the accounting is indeed weird. Like, I am extremely confident Ohio State, supposedly the third largest losing program, is doing more than fine. Now, maybe that’s just because the school is comping all the scholarships or something, but there is a mix of real problems and odd math in table

CatManTrue · Feb 1, 2026

JoeWildcat said:
Many years ago I was involved with the NCAA, and so I paid a lot of attention to these types of numbers. Rutgers ran the largest deficits in the country year after year (around $20 million); way worse than the next school. Their President said it was unsustainable and they were going to correct it. But each year it has gotten worse. I don’t know how they can keep absorbing these losses. The big caveat though is that there is a lot of leeway/hand waving in terms of how capital costs and overhead are allocated from school to school, but it seems hard to imagine how this can continue at Rutgers or even UCLA.

Rutgers has a $6B annual budget, and when you subtract out the student fees & other things they state this only represents 2-3% of their annual spend.

Still, how the hell are they spending this much?

hdhntr1 · Feb 1, 2026

CatManTrue said:
Rutgers has a $6B annual budget, and when you subtract out the student fees & other things they state this only represents 2-3% of their annual spend.

Still, how the hell are they spending this much?

It is government. Government means lots of corruption, Still need to ask?

Baz = Heisman · Feb 1, 2026

Rutgers is probably a money laundering operation let’s be real

NURoseBowl · Feb 1, 2026

bringbacktherantboard said:
I keep saying that (and it's already killing the G5 conferences), but it doesn't seem to stop the arms race amongst the P4 schools.

The bubble will have to pop eventually.

Good. Can't happen soon enough.

AdamOnFirst · Feb 1, 2026

CatManTrue said:
Rutgers has a $6B annual budget, and when you subtract out the student fees & other things they state this only represents 2-3% of their annual spend.

Still, how the hell are they spending this much?

I actually don’t know if their expenses are out of line or not, but their revenue is definitely low. It seems like it’s mostly the revenue. No support, no fans, no donors. You’re toast.

Catmandoo78 · Feb 2, 2026

AdamOnFirst said:
I actually don’t know if their expenses are out of line or not, but their revenue is definitely low. It seems like it’s mostly the revenue. No support, no fans, no donors. You’re toast.

Their new AD said the same thing. Basically it’s a revenue issue and they’re aggressively working on that (promos, partnerships, brand deals etc)

AdamOnFirst · Feb 2, 2026

Catmandoo78 said:
Their new AD said the same thing. Basically it’s a revenue issue and they’re aggressively working on that (promos, partnerships, brand deals etc)

Unfortunately they’ve been working on it for… ever

Sheffielder · Feb 3, 2026

Would love to see if Ohio State is using the same accounting procedures as Rutgers. I suspect one school wants to hide money to motivate donors, and one school can't hide enough liabilities to look competent.

hdhntr1 · Feb 3, 2026

AdamOnFirst said:
Unfortunately they’ve been working on it for… ever

Typical government. Never actually solve the problem because then the politicians have nothing to run on. If they truly wanted it solved, it would be

hdhntr1 · Feb 3, 2026

Sheffielder said:
Would love to see if Ohio State is using the same accounting procedures as Rutgers. I suspect one school wants to hide money to motivate donors, and one school can't hide enough liabilities to look competent.

Can't it be both?

AdamOnFirst · Feb 3, 2026

hdhntr1 said:
Typical government. Never actually solve the problem because then the politicians have nothing to run on. If they truly wanted it solved, it would be

I agree with you philosophically, but higher education is it's own special protected cloister of stupid... and college athletics is it's own almost totally separate thing beyond that.

hdhntr1 · Feb 3, 2026

AdamOnFirst said:
I agree with you philosophically, but higher education is it's own special protected cloister of stupid... and college athletics is it's own almost totally separate thing beyond that.

In general academic institutions are either part of government or very government like. I consider them an extension Just think, they are supposed to be non profit

Zootcat · Feb 3, 2026

This is nothing new. Rick Telendar wrote about it in 1989.https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/565730.The_Hundred_Yard_Lie

Half of Big Ten Athletic Departments lost millions in 2024; Indiana, OSU both lost $37M. Rutgers $70M. UCLA $83M!

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