Home football attendance, which hovered close to 40,000 from '15-17, dropped to about 35,000 in '18GETTY IMAGES
The Univ. of Maryland has "struggled to reverse recent declines in fan interest" in football, as athletic event "ticket sales and outside donations to the football program fell" in the FY ending last June for the second year in a row, according to a front-page piece by Jeff Barker of the BALTIMORE SUN. Home football attendance, which "hovered close to 40,000" from '15-17, "dropped to about 35,000." It is "hardly the path Maryland administrators anticipated when the school joined" the Big Ten in '14 with the "goal of stabilizing athletic department revenues." Maryland Senior Associate AD/Strategic Communications & Chief Communications Officer Jessica Jennings said that the Big Ten has "generally placed Maryland 'on a stronger financial footing.'" The school's share of Big Ten revenue amounted to $40.6M in the last fiscal year, up from $37.3M in '17 and "more than double" the $19M distribution it received in its final season in the ACC. The athletics budget "showed a surplus of $475,000" in FY '18. As the football team "struggled on the field, outside contributions to football fell" to $1.9M in '18 from $2.3M in '17, and "donations to athletics overall decreased" to $11.7M from $12.2M. Ticket sales revenue from "all sporting events" dropped to $14.7M from $15.2M year-over-year (BALTIMORE SUN, 2/5).
HUSKIER PROFIT: In Nebraska, Steve Rosen noted the Univ. of Nebraska's athletic department posted a $6.6M "operating profit -- once again with no outside subsidies or student fees" -- for FY '18, which ended July 1. The school's 10 men's and 14 women's teams "generated total revenue" of $142.2M. Thanks to Big Ten "revenue sharing, and marketing and licensing deals, that's a sharp increase" from FY '17, when the department reported revenue of $120.2M. The athletic department spent $135.6M in FY '18, up from $112.6M in FY '17. The reported revenue and expenses generated a surplus of $6.6M, of which $5.4M was "transferred to the university's administration to support academics." The Big Ten's "revenue sharing distribution generated the most revenue" for the NU athletic department at $47.9M. Ticket sales "were next," generating $37.2M, "largely unchanged from the previous year." Sponsorships, royalties and licensing agreements, such as with Adidas, generated $25.8M in FY '18 (RIVALS.com, 2/4).
