Lower than expected distribution from the Pac-12 Conference and the cost of a coaching change in football contributed to the University of Colorado athletics department recording a deficit of nearly $9.9 million for the 2023 fiscal year.
CU also recorded record numbers for operating expenses and revenue and a dramatic increase in direct institutional support.
In the recently published NCAA financial report for the 2023 fiscal year, CU showed a net loss of $9,086,178. The NCAA report includes some accounting differences due to definitions of certain revenues and expenses that they include which differ from CU’s actual budget. According to numbers provided by CU to BuffZone.com, the athletic department actually operated at a loss of $9,896,846 for the 2023 fiscal year.
CU’s conference distribution came in at roughly $33.1 million, significantly less than budgeted. That was due to the Pac-12 taking a $72 million hit for a decade of overpayments by Comcast to the conference, costing each school $6 million.
The 2023 fiscal year also included CU firing head football coach Karl Dorrell – with roughly $8.7 million left on his contract – as well as several assistants from the 2022 staff. In FY23, CU issued $7.32 million in severance payments, only part of which went to Dorrell, who will be paid monthly through December of this year.
“We found out about (the Pac-12 distribution decrease) very late in the fiscal year, so we didn’t have time to adjust the rest of our operations to try to minimize that impact,” said Cory Hilliard, CU’s senior associate athletic director for business operations. “That, plus the coaching change combined were the two big deltas that resulted in that deficit.”
Per numbers provided by CU, athletic department expenses in FY23 totaled roughly $127 million and revenue was just over $117.1 million. Previous record highs were $92.5 million in expenses in FY19 and $89.99 in revenue for FY20.
The revenue, per the NCAA report, included $27.8 million in institutional support, significantly higher than the roughly $7-9 million in previous years.
“It is typical for the CU Boulder Athletic Department to receive support from the university as well as the CU System office to assist with student-athlete academic and health resource initiatives,” university spokesperson Steve Hurlbert said in a statement provided to BuffZone. “Over the 2022-2023 fiscal year, in addition to institutional support that was used for student-athlete merit scholarships and financial aid, nearly $12 million was provided by a grant from the University of Colorado Foundation to address facility upgrades on East Campus outlined in the Athletic Department’s Gender Equity Plan in accordance with Title IX compliance.
“An additional $4.7 million was provided through federal Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (HEERF) grants, which are designed to offset department and university financial losses incurred during the COVID-19 pandemic. The remainder of the $20M in institutional support resulted from the restructuring of debt from the campus to the department along with additional student financial aid.”
CU’s FY23 budget also included spending roughly $7.1 million more on coaching, support staff and administration salaries and from the previous year. CU’s revenue was boosted by pulling in pledged gifts from donors totaling $20.4 million, roughly $16 million more than the previous year.
Despite the deficit from FY23, CU is looking forward to more financial success in the future, which includes a move to the Big 12 Conference this summer.
The department has an operating budget of roughly $134 million for FY24, boosted by more than $37 million in football ticket sales from last season – a $21 million jump over 2022 – as fans flocked to Folsom Field to see new head coach Deion Sanders’ squad.
Hillard said the success of the sixth-ranked women’s basketball team is leading to record revenue in ticket sales and concessions for that program, while the men’s basketball team is also enjoying more financial success this year than budgeted.
“The future revenue growth tied to the football coaching change has been unparalleled to anything else that is generating revenues for this fiscal year and beyond that will make up that part of the deficit of the coaching change,” Hilliard said.
“We are very excited about the Big 12 and the leadership that that conference has in relation to their business dealings. They get very creative.”
