How would a lost SEC football season impact Mizzou Athletics and its bottom line?
For the Southeastern Conference, football is king. And when it comes to the bottom line, SEC schools generate some of the country’s highest athletic revenue. In the 2017-18 fiscal year, all 13 public SEC schools were in the top 35 of revenue-generating programs, according to a USA Today NCAA financial database.
While Missouri is a relatively recent addition to the conference, it has seen first hand the perks being a member school brings. From revenue sharing to the SEC’s television deals, being in the conference leads to exposure and a massive boost in finances.
But what happens when the COVID-19 pandemic threatens the football season? Especially for an athletic department like Missouri, which operated in the red for the third straight fiscal year?
The Lexington Herald-Leader, a fellow McClatchy paper, through Freedom of Information requests, acquired financial information filed with the NCAA by 10 of the league’s 14 schools — Kentucky, Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, Georgia, Florida, LSU, Mississippi, Missouri and Tennessee — for the 2018-19 fiscal year (Sept. 1 through Aug. 31), which includes financial figures from the 2018 football season. The State obtained the latest report for the University of South Carolina.
Using those documents, as well as partial information available for Mississippi State and Texas A&M through the U.S. Department of Education, we can somewhat forecast what a fiscal year without college football might look like to SEC universities faced with that potential future amid the COVID-19 pandemic. (The conference’s lone private school, Vanderbilt, is not required to disclose its filings.)
It’s difficult to forecast if or when the 2020 football season will be played at this point. Missouri’s season is scheduled to kick off in five months on Sept. 5 against Central Arkansas, the first game under new coach Eliah Drinkwitz. MU elected for all summer classes to be online-only. That academic session runs to July 31. With training camp set to begin right around the beginning of August, further delays will likely impact the football season through postponements or, at worst, cancellations.
Numerous possibilities could be on the table when it comes to the actual season — reduced schedules, playing games without fans, traveling with fewer players, moving the sport to next spring, or even business as usual — depending on the advice and guidance of health experts.
Regardless of what officials decide in the coming months, anything less than a complete college football season will have negative consequences of university athletics budgets in the 2020-21 fiscal year. A complete absence of the sport could be crushing — even for the elite.
Mizzou costs
As an athletic department, Missouri was in the red for the third straight fiscal year, operating at a deficit of $1,788,203. MU athletic director Jim Sterk said last week he was still in talks about projecting the 2020-21 budget.
Out of any Mizzou sports team, football generated the most profit at $14,619,385 during the 2018-19 fiscal year, which included the 2018 football season. Next was the men’s basketball team at $4,331,731. Behind the two revenue-driving sports of football and men’s basketball, the 18 other varsity sports were all in the red. They combined for an operating loss of $22,377,709.
If, hypothetically, there was no football and MU lost its profits from football, the school would go from a $1.8 million loss to operating at a $16,407,588 loss.
In reality, though, the loss might be less. While most of the revenue would be wiped out without any games, there wouldn’t be as much spending for football. Costs for travel and game expenses would be dropped.
However, areas like student aid, food, housing, medical expenses and others will continue to be a cost. If there is no football season, coaches would still be paid. Drinkwitz has a $4 million salary. He also has a $5.2 million assistant coaching salary pool, along with a $1.2 million pool for any administrative staff.
As for any potential pay cuts, Sterk said they would likely be “forthcoming” as the department explores any possible alternative to save money. Iowa State has already imposed such cuts to its budget, reducing salary for high-ranking officials and coaches, including limiting coaching benefits.
As of now, it’s difficult to pinpoint exactly how much a lost football season would impact the SEC’s media rights. The SEC announced it distributed about $44.6 million to each school for the 2018-19 fiscal year.
For the 2019-20 fiscal year, that number will likely be lower with the cancellation of spring sports, the SEC and NCAA men’s basketball tournaments and other events. Keep in mind MU did not receive its share of conference bowl distributions because the football team was banned from the postseason. Sterk has said that money will likely be supplemented by the university to the athletic department in a loan.
There will be additional revenue lost in the 2019-20 fiscal year because of the NCAA Tournament cancellation. The NCAA insured about $250 million of its scheduled $600 million payout. Fortunately for MU, the $2,705,238 it received from the NCAA in fiscal year 2018-19 was only 2.5% of its total revenue.
A lost football season would affect fiscal year 2020-21. MU football generated $12,996,333 solely from media rights in the 2018-19 fiscal year.
It’s also difficult to estimate how donations will be impacted. Sterk pointed out last week that donations will likely go down with a struggling economy and uncertainty on when sports will return. In a LEAD1 survey responded to by 95 Division I athletic directors, 75% cited donations as the biggest revenue-stream concern for fiscal year 2020-21, followed closely by ticket sales and additional revenue generated from in-person events (74%).
For MU and Drinkwitz, changes to the season could also impact ticket sales. The program looked to capitalize on the optimism brought forth by a first-year coach. Part of the reason why former coach Barry Odom was fired by Sterk was because of declining ticket sales. In the 2018-19 fiscal year, Mizzou football brought in $9.6 million in ticket sales, about a $1 million decrease from the previous year.
In the present, Sterk said the athletic department will look at projections and how its budget is impacted in various scenarios. If there’s no football, though, that will have widespread consequences for all varsity sports.