The Univ. of Arkansas athletic department is "projecting revenues and expenses to approach all-time highs" of nearly $90M in the coming school year, with "revenues buoyed by anticipated increases" of nearly $4.5M in SEC and NCAA distributions, according to Tom Murphy of the ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE. The projected budget of $89.2M is "for the fiscal year that began July 1, 2014, and will end next June 30." But "increased expenses, attributed to higher utility and administrative costs, along with continued facility renewal, are projected to offset the gains Arkansas is figuring for the SEC's new round of bowl agreements and the inception of the SEC Network later this month." UA's current budget proposal "represents an increase" of 8.6% over last year's budget of just more than $82.1M and a rise of nearly 21% from the '11-12 budget of almost $74M. The UA athletic department has "reported actual revenues topping" $81M each of the past four fiscal years. UA Senior Associate AD & CFO Clayton Hamilton said that the additional revenues "can be mostly attributed to football ticket sales, conference distributions, sponsorship agreements and contributions from the Razorback Foundation." The "largest expense lines in the UA athletic department's current budget proposal come from" football ($21.3M), men's basketball ($7.1M), facilities ($3.9M) and utilities ($3.9M). Projected "revenues in ticket sales" include $27M for football, $6.45M in men's basketball and $1.9M in baseball. UA "projects to bring in" $6.6M in multimedia rights, $3.25M in trademark licensing and a record $25M in SEC and NCAA distributions after projecting $20.5M for such distributions last year. The athletic department plans to transfer $2.37M "to the university this year, a departure from" the $1M it has given the university the past several years (ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE, 8/2).
