Nevada athletics turns small profit in FY23 after additional support from UNR is fulfilled
The Nevada athletic department turned a small profit in fiscal year 2023 after UNR followed through with its pledge to get the Wolf Pack near the Mountain West median in university funding.
Nevada Sports Net obtained the Wolf Pack's 2023 fiscal year financial report through a public records request last week, which shows the Wolf Pack producing $49,533,190 in revenue against $49,509,846 in expenses, a modest surplus of $23,344. The most noteworthy takeaway from the filling was how much money Nevada received in direct institutional support, that figure being $13,327,989.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the Wolf Pack's typical funding in direct institutional support was $3 million to $3.5 million, so that $13,327,989 this fiscal year is a roughly $10 million increase after UNR president Brian Sandoval set a goal of improving Nevada athletics' funding in university and student fee money to the MW median, calling that move an investment rather than an expense.
This is the third straight fiscal year Nevada athletics has received more than $13 million in direct institutional support, although the first two were related to COVID-19's impact on the Wolf Pack's ability to generate revenue.
In FY21, UNR gave the Wolf Pack an additional $10,199,921 "budget allocation" to cover an eight-figure deficit resulting from COVID-19's impact on ticket sales (crowds were not allowed at Nevada football and basketball games that season). In FY22, UNR gave the Wolf Pack an additional $9,918,499 "budget allocation" to cover the nearly $10 million athletics deficit, citing the lingering impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on attendance. The additional budget allocations in FY21 and FY22 came out of COVID-19 relief funds the university received from the federal government's Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund as well as the Nevada System of Higher Education's special COVID-19-related distribution.
FY23's $13.3 million in direct institutional support is expected to be the Wolf Pack's new norm moving forward as Nevada has prepared its FY24 budget to land around $50 million, athletic director Stephanie Rempe told Nevada Sports Net on Wednesday.
Nevada's $49,509,846 in expenses in FY23 is the most in Wolf Pack history and a 9.5 percent increase over FY22's expenses of $45,228,707. The biggest year-over-year increases in expenses came in support staff (from $6.073 million to $7.258 million); coaching salaries (from $8.216 million to $8.838 million); game guarantees (from $709,102 to $1,235,076); equipment, uniforms and supplies (from $2.127 million to $2.806 million); game-day expenses (from $1.299 million to $1.713 million); indirect institutional support (from $2.606 million to $3.129 million); and student-athlete meals (from $1.080 million to $1.363 million).
Those seven pots included a $4.232 million year-over-year increase with the Wolf Pack's total expenses increasing by $4.281 million.
Nevada athletics has generally struggled to break even financially, doing so only four times in the last 14 fiscal years (2012, 2015, 2016, 2019) without an additional unplanned university allocation. Wolf Pack athletics receives far fewer funds than its Mountain West counterparts in public money, which includes state distribution, university distribution and student fees. Sandoval made it a goal to improve that support after taking over as UNR's president in 2020.
In a typical fiscal year, Nevada athletics would get roughly $16 million in state and institutional money, which includes student fees. A review by NSN of every MW budget, as reported by the schools via their NCAA reports, shows the conference median in those same revenue pots to be around $26 million per school per year. The most public money in the MW goes to San Diego State, which received nearly $31 million in state and university revenue in FY22 and has had the most successful athletic department in the conference. Nevada's public money figure was the MW's lowest, roughly $3 million behind second-to-last Boise State, the MW's second-most successful athletic department over the last decade.
FY23's public money pots of state, university and student money totaled $24,160,006 thanks to the roughly $10 million in increased university money. That was less than $2 million short of the MW's median figure from FY22.
In FY19, the president's office took over $8.25 million of historic debt/deferral accrued by Wolf Pack athletics. It recently absorbed $5.9 million in accrued athletics department debt and since 2019 has covered around $32 million in deficits accumulated by the school's athletic department, giving Wolf Pack athletics a clean slate following the hiring of Rempe, who accepted the athletic director job in June 2022.
FY24, which will close this June, is Rempe's first time setting and executing a budget for the Wolf Pack athletics, although it is not expected to come without challenges. The Nevada System of Higher Education approved a 14 percent COLA raise for employees that took effect last July with another 11 percent increase scheduled for this October. Those raises, which will total a seven-figure increase for athletics employees, are only for workers making less than $200,000 per year. NSHE, however, is not funding those raises for athletic department employees, meaning Nevada must generate new revenue to support them.
Additionally, UNR has put a 5 percent budget decrease on its departments to help fund the COLAs, which means the Wolf Pack is expected to get roughly $1.4 million less in university money for FY24. With the additional university support, any debt accrued by Nevada athletics moving forward will not be covered by the university, meaning Rempe and her department must balance the budget, something previous Wolf Pack ADs have struggled to accomplish.
In its 2023 NCAA financial report, Nevada reported $7.502 million in ticket sales, an increase over the previous year's $7.326 million. Other major revenue streams include direct institutional support ($13.328 million), direct state support ($4.836 million), donations ($3.592 million), the MW media rights deal ($3.335 million), student fees ($2.867 million), royalties/licensing ($2.750 million), conference distribution ($1.494 million), NCAA distribution ($1.427 million) and game guarantees ($2.001 million).
The Wolf Pack's top expenses were scholarships ($8.929 million), coaching salaries ($8.838 million), administration/support staff salaries ($7.258 million), team travel ($4.826 million), administrative expenses ($3.996 million), equipment and uniforms ($2.806 million), debt services ($1.407 million), game expenses ($1.713 million) and meals ($1.363 million).
The 2023 fiscal year ran from July 1, 2022-June 30, 2023, meaning it covered the 2022 football season, the first under coach Ken Wilson, as well as the 2022-23 men's basketball season, which signaled Nevada's return to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2019.
Wolf Pack men's hoops generated far and away the most money in ticket sales at $4,464,259. Nevada football generated $2,838,181 in ticket sales. The rest of the Wolf Pack sports sold $199,761 in tickets, including $66,999 in women's basketball; $60,508 in baseball; $15,975 in softball; $10,317 in volleyball; and $8,408 in women's soccer. Total ticket sales were up from FY22 to FY23, going from $7.011 million to $7.363. In FY20, the last year prior to COVID, Nevada sold $9.147 million in tickets, so this is an area where Nevada can and must grow, specifically in football.
With its run to the NCAA Tournament, Nevada men's basketball turned a profit of $1.945 million in FY23. Football lost $3.653 million after going 2-10 in Wilson's first season. Women's basketball lost $1.852 million. The rest of Nevada's programs lost a combined $9.641 million (those teams are not separated by sport in the financial report).
Schools are required to file fiscal year reports to the NCAA on an annual basis, which is how NSN received the Wolf Pack's 2023 fiscal year filing.
Wolf Pack's fiscal year outcomes
Here is a look at Nevada’s profit/deficit in each of the last 14 fiscal years.
2010: -$750,000
2011: -$450,000
2012: +$50,000
2013: -$500,000
2014: -$39,450
2015: +$115,000
2016: +$135,000
2017: -$2,000,000
2018: -$900,000
2019: +$216,678
2020: -$2,000,000
2021: $0 (after a $10,199,921 "budget allocation" from the university)
2022: +$2,717,930 (after a $9,918,499.33 "budget allocation" from the university)
2023: +$23,344
Source: Wolf Pack athletics/NCAA financial reports