The Univ. of South Carolina athletics department "expects to make" $121.9M in FY '17-18 and spend $102.9M, and both numbers "are records" for the school, according to Josh Kendall of the Columbia STATE. The biggest increase in the school’s revenue is a $4.9M "uptick in media rights, which can be traced to a one-time signing bonus" of $4M the school received for "re-upping its rights contract with IMG and the annual dollar increase in that contract." The biggest expected increase in expenditures is "rising personnel salaries." South Carolina will pay $3.6M more in salaries in FY '17-18, "including raises for men’s basketball coach Frank Martin and women’s basketball coach Dawn Staley," who reached the Final Four and won a national championship, respectively. The "largest deposit into the athletics department coffers comes from its SEC and NCAA distributions," which are expected to be $40.1M in the upcoming year. Ticket sales ($21.7M), sponsorship, media rights and royalties ($17.9M) and the Gamecock Club ($13.5M) are the "next biggest sources of income." Ticket sales revenue is "projected to drop from a year ago" (from $22.7M), chiefly because South Carolina football is "giving up one home game" to play a neutral-site game against N.C. State in Charlotte. However, the school is receiving a $2M payout to play that game at Bank of America Stadium, which "more than makes up for the drop in forecast ticket sales" (Columbia STATE, 6/20).
