LSU Tigers join rare $200 million club per NCAA report
BATON ROUGE, La. (BVM) – The Louisiana State University athletic department has filed its annual financial report to the NCAA for the 2023 fiscal year.
Here’s what to know about LSU’s athletic revenue, expenses and profits – especially regarding football, baseball, gymnastics, and men’s and women’s basketball. The 82-page filing for fiscal year 2023 covers the reporting year from from July 1, 2022 to June 30, 2023.
LSU’S revenue
LSU brought in a record $200,476,979 in operating revenue; this is the first time in history that the Tigers have cracked the $200 million mark in revenue.
Few college athletic departments have joined the milestone $200 million revenue club; the previous fiscal year (2022) included only Ohio State, Texas, Alabama, Michigan and Georgia.
Take a look at LSU’s top revenue-generating sports in FY2023 (compared to FY2022):
- Football: $105.7 million (up $10.6M)
- Men’s basketball: $12 million (up $507K)
- Baseball: $8.6 million (up $2.6M)
- Women’s basketball: $2.5 million (up $720K)
- Gymnastics: $730,641 (up $91K)
A lot of the revenue comes from ticket sales; LSU athletics generated $51 million in ticket sales in FY2023 (up $4.4 million from the previous reporting year).
LSU teams that sold the most tickets in FY2023 (compared to FY2022):
- Football: $40.7 million (up $2.3M)
- Baseball: $3.5 million (up $662K)
- Men’s basketball: $2.4 million (down $298K)
- Women’s basketball: $973,880 (up $107K)
- Gymnastics: $500,518 (up $86K)
LSU’S expenses
LSU spent a record $199,110,998 in operating expenses. This is the most that the department has spent in history, considering that the previous record was $192.8 million in fiscal year 2022.
LSU programs with the highest expenses in FY2023 (compared to FY2022):
- Football: $51.6 million (down $7.8M)
- Men’s basketball: $10.7 million (up $838K)
- Women’s basketball: $10.3 million (up $1.9M)
- Baseball: $8.7 million (up $2.7M)
- Gymnastics: $3.1 million (up $442K)
One notable expense is LSU’s recruiting budget – which nearly doubled overall from $2,407,564 in FY2022 to $4,672,357 in 2023.
Notable recruiting budgets for LSU teams in FY2023 (compared to FY2022):
- Football: $1.9 million (up $1.2M)
- Men’s basketball: $852,119 (up $158K)
- Women’s basketball: $402,366 (up $171K)
- Baseball: $171,950 (up $66K)
- Gymnastics: $124,731 (up $40K)
LSU’s profits
The LSU Tigers’ athletic department profited $1,365,981 during FY2023. In comparison, it raked in $6.5 million in profits during FY2022.
Overall, in FY2023, the football team at LSU made $54.1 million in profits and the men’s basketball team profited $1.3 million. However – baseball, gymnastics and women’s basketball didn’t turn a profit; baseball lost $66K, gymnastics lost $2.4 million and women’s basketball lost a staggering $7.8 million.
