Someone help me out here... I thought we were going to be in a budget crisis?

Apologies in advance, as this is a lengthy post once you factor in the quoted content...

But wasn't that roughly the excuse that ADGM decided to use when upping ticket prices?

For anyone who doesn't read his blog, the Senator pulled together a message boarder's work into a solid read on SEC athletic department revenues vs expenses for FY17 (ended June 2017) here.

The long and short of it are:
Expenses:


Revenues:


Revenues: $157,852,479
Expenses: $110,084,458
Net: $47,768,021

Perhaps more importantly, that is Football operating at a nearly $57M net profit and Basketball shocking operating at over $3M in net profit. Pretty sure we just read yesterday that roughly 2/3 of D1 basketball programs are break even or worse as well...

Where does that rank us in the SEC?

quote:

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FY2017 (i.e., 1 July 2016 – 30 June 2017) Athletics Department Revenue:

1. Alabama: $174,305,613
2. Georgia: $157,852,479
3. Auburn: $147,413,201
4. Louisiana State: $146,934,487
5. Florida: $142,545,938
6. Tennessee: $139,659,550
7. South Carolina: $136,032,845
8. Arkansas: $132,172,997
9. Texas A&M: $130,442,544
10. Kentucky: $122,307,014
11. Ole Miss: $101,857,663
12. Missouri: $90,034,258
13. Mississippi State: $89,696,829
14. Vanderbilt: $80,335,651

FY2017 (i.e., 1 July 2016 – 30 June 2017) Athletics Department Expenses:

1. Alabama: $143,634,940
2. Florida: $137,818,468
3. South Carolina: $135,499,095
4. Louisiana State: $131,722,243
5. Tennessee: $128,944,788
6. Auburn: $125,832,608
7. Texas A&M: $122,615,852
8. Kentucky: $121,688,546
9. Arkansas: $116,112,803
10. Georgia: $110,084,458
11. Ole Miss: $92,908,665
12. Missouri: $90,034,258
13. Mississippi State: $77,773,532
13. Vanderbilt: $69,803,910

FY2017 (i.e., 1 July 2016 – 30 June 2017) Athletics Department Profit:

1. Georgia: $47,768,021
2. Alabama: $30,670,673
3. Auburn: $21,580,593
4. Arkansas: $16,060,194
5. Louisiana State: $15,212,244
6. Mississippi State: $11,923,297
7. Vanderbilt: $10,531,741
8. Tennessee: $10,714,762
9. Ole Miss: $8,948,998
10. Texas A&M: $7,826,692
11. Florida: $4,727,470
12. South Carolina: $533,750
13. Kentucky: $618,468
14. Missouri: $0

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2nd in total revenue, 10th in expenses, and 1st by a landslide in total profit.

Not sure I see how our upcoming budget could possibly have been that dire unless there is some major missing info here. I'll be eagerly awaiting this info once we get the FY18 figures following all the success that the football team had this season.




I was curious where we ranked for basketball... fortunately AirForceDawg was kind enough to provide that in the comments as well:

quote:

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FY2017 (i.e., 1 July 2016 – 30 June 2017) SEC Men’s Basketball Revenue:

Kentucky: $27,965,227
Tennessee: $18,322,729
Arkansas: $16,332,876
Alabama: $15,003,656
Florida: $14,200,425
South Carolina: $11,948,781
Ole Miss: $10,700,408
Missouri: $10,065,698
Auburn: $9,900,612
Georgia: $9,459,251
Vanderbilt: $9,378,279
Texas A&M: $8,905,402
LSU: $8,135,734
Mississippi State: $7,572,191

FY2017 (i.e., 1 July 2016 – 30 June 2017) SEC Men’s Basketball Expenses:

Kentucky: $19,180,059
Missouri: $10,065,698
Arkansas: $9,790,947
Alabama: $9,681,264
Auburn: $9,632,816
South Carolina: $9,282,730
Texas A&M: $8,953,278
Ole Miss: $7,588,764
Florida: $7,207,469
Vanderbilt: $7,168,389
Tennessee: $6,977,691
Mississippi State: $6,563,856
LSU: $6,516,369
Georgia: $6,237,492

Bottomline: UGA Men’s Basketball turned a $3,221,759 profit in FY2017.

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Surprise surprise, UGA spent the least on Basketball... and yet... came out 6th in net profit in the SEC. But it's the fans lack of support that really make it so hard to have success in basketball. At least that's what I've been told more than a few times here.

If you look just at the basketball expenses, essentially you see Tennessee getting a steal of a value in Rick Barnes after he was let go, and UF hiring a quality up and comer in Mike White (but still outspending us by roughly 16%), and it only goes up from there when you're looking at teams that are having success. Spending money willy nilly isn't a strategy, but identifying the right coach and supporting them with a level more in line with successful teams not named Kentucky would seem to be a good starting point. If it weren't for Fox's outright baffling in-game decision making, I'd almost be willing to give him a slight pass based on these figures... He's basically had to be college basketball's version of the Frugal Gourmet.