Univ. of Iowa Athletics, in the latest fiscal year, "beat budget expectations" by $11.4M -- "reaching a record" $140.4M in total income, above the $140.3M mark the program was projected to reach, according to Vanessa Miller of the Cedar Rapids GAZETTE. Miller wrote the $140.4M income total for the 2023 budget year -- "matched by the same operating expense total -- comes with an asterisk" in that a portion of the overage "came from 'a reserve fund transfer for legal settlements.'" Iowa Athletics spent $6.8M "more than expected on 'administrative and general expenses' -- in part -- because of 'legal settlements.'" In March, Iowa Athletics paid $4.2M to "settle a discrimination lawsuit that 12 former football players filed against the department and its coaches." Miller noted Iowa Athletics did generate more revenue than expected "in some categories -- such as for women’s basketball," which was "budgeted to bring in $350,000 but instead made" $1.2M. Football generated $23.8M, more than $1M more than the $22.8M expected; men’s basketball brought in $3.5M, above the budgeted $3.2M; and men’s wrestling tallied $1.2M, "topping the $750,000 expectation." Iowa State Univ. Athletics, which earlier this year also "projected record-breaking revenue in the current budget year, nearly reached that expectation in fiscal 2023" bringing in $110.1M, or nearly $4M over the $106.2M budget and "just shy" of the 2024 projection of $111.5M. All of Iowa State Univ.'s major sports "made more in ticket revenue than expected," and the department "generated more income from a bump in football parking permit prices" (Cedar Rapids GAZETTE, 11/16).
Iowa football generated $23.8M in revenue over the most recent fiscal yearGetty Images
