SEC athletic department budgets: Growing and growing
April 2nd, 2009
The rest of the country may be struggling in these harsh economic times, but the SEC is doing just fine. Those 15-year TV deals signed with CBS and ESPN have already started having an effect on coaching hires and athletic spending, says Tony Barnhart of the Atlanta Journal Constitution.
And why not? The SEC is scheduled to bring in a reported $3 billion over the next 15 years from its TV deals alone. That’s not counting the millions brought in with bowl deals, BCS appearances and trips to the Final Four.
We’ve seen the domino’s starting to fall already, Barhnhart writes. The hiring of John Calipari at Kentucky and his signature on an eight-year deal that will pay him almost $4 million a year is a sure sign. And don’t forget about Nick Saban at Alabama ($3.9 million) and LSU’s Les Miles (reportedly $1,000 more than the highest contract in the SEC).
There’s been a fair share of spending at Arkansas as well. Bobby Petrino reportedly has a contract paying him $2.85 million a year, and the Razorback Foundation, the private fund-raising arm of the athletic department, funded the $3.2 million buyout awarded to Houston Nutt upon his departure from the UA in November 2007.
As for how Arkansas stacks up in the 12-school SEC in terms of athletic budgets, the Razorbacks are at least eighth, according to figures compiled by the Capstone Report. Arkansas reported an operating budget of $51,757,000 for the 2008-2009 year.
The Capstone report has not been provided numbers for the 2008-09 fiscal year from Alabama or Vanderbilt. Alabama officials plan to provide numbers in July, but based off an operating budget of $93 million in 2007-08, it’s safe to say that ‘Bama will still out-spend the Razorbacks in 2008-09. Vanderbilt is still determining its avenues of releasing such information. The school is a private institution, unlike its SEC brothers and sisters.
There’s also the difficulty of analyzing these numbers due to one underlying question: which schools included estimated or actual revenue? Auburn, for example, has two figures — as you’ll see below — with revenue and without revenue. With revenue, Auburn would be bumped up higher in these “rankings.”
Again, this is more or less to show you just how much money these schools were initially allocated in their budgets. More than likely, many have increased. Florida spent more than $25 million over their allocated budget due to additional revenue in 2007-08, according to the Capstone Report.
As for now, which school has the highest athletic department budget in the conference in 2008-09? Tennessee at $86 million.
Here are the rankings:
1. Alabama: $93 million*
2. Tennessee: $86 million
3. Florida: $83.12 million
4. Georgia: $76.28 million
5. LSU: $75.8 million
6. Kentucky: $67 million
7. South Carolina: $65 million
8. Arkansas: $51.76 million
9. Auburn: $48.64 million ($75.21 million#)
10. Ole Miss: $34.4 million
11. Mississippi State: $30 million
Vanderbilt: N/A
*2007-08 numbers
#Revenue included
The large numbers above, I believe, shouldn’t be critiqued too much. After all, it’s the nature of the business.
As Barnhart puts it, “You give the money, you enforce the expectations. Nobody gets dragged kicking and screaming into this business. My daddy once told me that ‘When the price of poker goes up, you don’t complain. You either play or you fold.’ Kentucky proved this week that schools in the SEC, thanks to their success on the field and on the court, have the resources to play.”
And that’s the way it is.
– Brandon Marcello
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I think Arkansas must be holding back a little here. Our facilities are top notch and salaries are competitive, so what can the others be doing with so much more? If this is true we are seriously out gunned for the long run!
i think most other SEC school spend large amount on improving facities, Bama expanding stadium, so is UT, UF is building some sort of atheletic complex (?), etc...
where are we on the plan of building practice facility?
I think with the exception of South Carolina, when you look at the schools ahead of Arkansas in spending, they are STEEPED in tradition and STEEPED in contributors with deep pockets.
Monumental spending does not necessarily lead to monumental success. Both Tubby Smith and Billy Gilliespie struggled at UK. There's absolutely no guarantee that the money thrown at Calipari will mean success.
What's more, Saban and the Tide looked PITIFUL in both the SEC C'ship game and their bowl game against Utah. Les Miles suffered a miserable season by anyone's standards at LSU, especially being humiliated by Arkansas' comeback in the last game of the regular season.
Yes, a practice facility is needed for basketball. While it might not seem as glamourous as compared to other schools, Arkansas still spends smart.