How OU athletic revenue, expenses topped $200 million for first time in 2024 fiscal year

NORMAN — OU exceeded $200 million in both operating expenses and revenue for the first time in the 2024 fiscal year, according to the annual financial report the school filed with the NCAA in mid-January and released by the school via an open-records request by The Oklahoman.

The Sooners had $206,189,277 in total operating expenses, though the school brought in $2,640,499 in excess revenue above that, but the expense total doesn’t include the nearly $6.3 million transferred back to the institution from athletics.

OU football recruiting expenses keep going up

Of the slightly more than $6 million the department spent on recruiting expenses, $3,856,295 came from football.

The department spent nearly $700,000 on men’s basketball recruiting and just more than $225,000 on women’s basketball recruiting.

The football recruiting number is a significant jump from recent years. Last fiscal year, football recruiting expenses were more than $3.5 million after being $2.6 in fiscal year 2022 and less than $1.3 million in fiscal year 2019.

OU softball ticket sales way up

With the move to Love’s Field, the increase wasn’t a big surprise but OU softball ticket sales were more than $2.6 million.

That is nearly $600,000 more than men’s basketball and still more than men’s and women’s basketball combined.

Softball ticket sales made up more than 80% of ticket sales among women’s sports.

Football ticket sales revenue topped out at nearly $41 million.

Softball's total revenue was nearly $4.1 million. Women’s basketball was No. 2 among women’s sports at the school with more than $3 million in revenue.

Softball expenses were just under $7 million for softball.