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SALT LAKE CITY — The University of Utah's athletic department has rebounded well — and grown — since its COVID-disrupted year, according to the latest fiscal report released by the university in January. And it has the success of the football program to largely thank for it.
The report, an NCAA mandated "Agreed-upon Procedures Guide," details the 2022 fiscal year for the athletic department, which ended on June 30, 2022, and covered the first full athletic calendar without COVID restrictions placed upon the university.
In that athletic calendar, the university rebounded from a $31 million deficit to that of a $3.8 million profit, which is more in line with its finish after a standard fiscal year for the university. In total, the university brought in $115.7 million in revenue and had $111.8 million in operating expenses.
Athletic director Mark Harlan said in 2020 that the university anticipated to lose approximately $50 million or more as a result of COVID's impact on the department, though the university only lost $31 million. The department still has $33.9 million in debt largely due to the impact of that calendar season, but it "continues to work closely with campus in managing this debt."
The football program made up the single-largest portion of the department's fund — 65% percent of its total revenue — for a program high $75.7 million in revenue and $39.9 million in operating expenses for a total profit of $35.7 million for the 2021 football season, which included the program's first-ever trip to the Rose Bowl.
Football's previous high was in the fiscal year of 2019, which included the program's first Pac-12 championship appearance as part of the 2018 season, in which it brought in $65.6 million in revenue and finished with $34.6 million in profit. That pales in comparison to Utah's first full season in the Pac-12, in which the football program brought in $22.8 million and finished with $6.9 million in profit.
Much has happened in the decade since Utah joined the Pac-12, most notably that Utah no longer operates in a deficit at the end of its fiscal year. After the first year that Utah competed in the Pac-12, the department finished with $5.2 million in debt.
The largest items of revenue attributed to the football program were media rights ($23.6 million); contributions, which include donations made to the Crimson Club ($19.6 million); ticket sales ($12 million); Pac-12 distributions ($9 million); royalties, licensing, advertisements and sponsorships ($4.6 millions); and bowl revenue ($3.2 million).
The largest expenses for the football program include salaries and benefits ($15.9 million); student aid ($4.3 million); and other operating expenses, which includes Pac-12 bowl game expense sharing, Pac-12 operating expenses and independent contractors and consultants ($4.2 million).
Men's basketball was the second-largest driver of revenue for the department, where it brought it $11.9 million but had expenses that totaled $11.3 million for a profit of $616,076. Gymnastics brought in just over $1 million in revenue and women's basketball brought in $504,030, though both operated at a loss for a combined $6.7 million in expenses.
In total, the other remaining sports, of which there is no individualized breakdown from the university, brought in $3.7 million but cost $18.5 million to operate for the season.
The department has four large previously-finished projects they continue to pay off, which includes the Spence & Cleone Eccles Football Center ($15.9 million outstanding), Jon M. and Karen Huntsman Basketball Training Center ($20.7 million), Ken Garff Red Zone at Rice Eccles Stadium ($68.9 million), and the Rice-Eccles Stadium scoreboard ($1.2 million).
As part of the department's expenses, Utah paid just under $10 million combined to those four projects. The department is expected to pay off the stadium scoreboard in 2024, the football facility by 2032, the expansion to Rice-Eccles Stadium in 2040, and the basketball facility by 2041.
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