The Louisville Athletic Association is preparing for a 13% "drop in men's basketball revenue," even as the school's football program is "poised to rake in more money than last season," according to Morgan Watkins of the Louisville COURIER-JOURNAL. The anticipated decline in basketball revenue is "included in the operating budget ULAA has developed" for FY '18-19, which begins July 1. The bulk of the money the men's basketball program makes "comes from ticket sales for home games." UL Senior Associate AD/Media Relations Kenny Klein said that the projected decline is "primarily based on the prior season's ticket sales and also takes the team's schedule -- which has one fewer home game than last season -- into account." Ticket sales "suffered" as the recruiting scandal involving an FBI investigation "dragged on." Next season, the first under new coach Chris Mack, ULAA "estimates ticket sales will generate" $13.1M. It "projects the basketball program's revenue will total" about $25.6M for the full fiscal year. Klein said that a "strong schedule for next season that includes home games against opponents like Duke could help ticket sales exceed the athletic association's conservative estimates." Meanwhile, the football program is "expected to bring in" about 10% more revenue. ULAA's budget "plans for a boost in ticket sales for home football games that will generate" about $16.4M compared to last season's $13.8M. Klein said that the projected revenue bump for football is "mainly due to an extra home game that has been added for the new season as well as the addition of about 6,000 new seats at Papa John's Cardinal Stadium" (Louisville COURIER-JOURNAL, 6/16).
MAKING MONEY: In K.C., Alex Schiffer noted season-ticket sales for Missouri men's basketball, which were already "trending upward from the hire of coach Cuonzo Martin," surged after F Michael Porter Jr.'s commitment in March '17. MU men's basketball "collected $5,287,785.15 in total revenue" for the '17-18 season, a 70.9% "increase from the previous season's figure of $3,094,448.62." The numbers are "encouraging for an athletic program that operated in the red during the previous fiscal year for the first time" since it joined the SEC. In former MU coach Kim Anderson’s final season, the program made a little more than $3M in "ticket sales and just less than $60,000 in concessions." This past season MU sold more than $5.1M in "tickets and almost $142,000 in concessions" (K.C. STAR, 6/16).
