Penn State on Friday released a copy of its annual financial report to the NCAA, and it shows that the athletic department operated nearly $6M in the red in '12-13, a "rarity for a university that has long prided itself on a profit-making sports program," according to Charles Thompson of the Harrisburg PATRIOT-NEWS. Officials said that this also "may be just the first in a several-year period where the department operates at a deficit ... though they continue to express confidence about returning to profit-making status within three or four years." Friday's report "was not a surprise," but it is the "first detailed, sport-by-sport accounting of the departmental numbers in what was the first full year after the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal." The report showed that the school had total revenues of $104.75M against $110.74M, "creating a deficit" of almost $6M. That gap "was closed with existing athletic department reserves." Officials said that any deficits "in the current and future years will be covered" through a $30M bridge loan. Football "was still the department's big money-maker, of course," posting a net profit of $34.1M for the '12 season. But that was "down from a profit margin" of $47.8M in '11; and $43.9M in '10 (PENNLIVE.com, 2/14).
