How OU football, softball performed financially in FY2023
NORMAN, Okla. (BVM) – The University of Oklahoma’s athletic department has filed its annual financial report to the NCAA for the 2023 fiscal year.
Here are some key takeaways from the Sooners’ 82-page NCAA report that was obtained by BVM Sports through an open records request. Keep in mind that fiscal year 2023 covers the reporting year from July 1, 2022 to June 30, 2023.
Revenue
Oklahoma athletics across all sports generated $199,295,570 in total operating revenue in FY2023, which is a $22 million increase from FY2022. Only six athletic departments made over $199 million in revenue back in FY2022 (Ohio State, Texas, Alabama, Michigan, Georgia and LSU). It’s unclear where OU athletics ranks on the list of the most revenue-generating college athletic programs from FY2023 since all of the data isn’t readily available yet.
Football is, of course, the top revenue-generating sport on OU’s campus after generating $143.1 million in FY2023. Men’s and women’s basketball follow at $14.6 million and $3.5 million, respectively.
Softball is the fourth-most revenue-generating sport on OU’s campus – sitting at just under $3 million in revenue in FY2023.
Ticket sales is a notable revenue-generating category; football raked in $43 million, followed by men’s basketball ($2.4 million) and softball ($1.5 million).
Expenses
Oklahoma athletics spent $198,975,224 in operating expenses to run all sports, which is a substantial increase from the $176 million spent back in FY2022. Only Ohio State’s and Texas’ athletic departments spent more than $198 million back in FY2022, so it’ll be interesting to see where OU lands in FY2023 on the list of most expensive college athletic programs.
Football is nonetheless the most expensive sport on OU’s campus – dishing out $58 million to run the program in FY2023. Men’s basketball spent the second most ($11.9 million), followed by softball as the third most expensive sport on campus ($6.8 million).
One notable expense is OU’s $5.6 million total recruiting budget from FY2023; football used up $3.5 million, while softball spent $130,820.
Profits
Oklahoma’s athletic department as a whole made just $320,346 in profits from FY2023, which, unfortunately, is down from the $1.3 million in profits made in FY2022.
Football, however, was highly profitable in FY2023 at $85.2 million. Where OU ranks on the list of most profitable college football teams in FY2023 isn’t clear yet, but interestingly enough, OU did rank as one of the top five most profitable college football teams in FY2022 after posting $78.5 million in profits.
Sooners softball didn’t turn out a profit in FY2023, despite winning their third consecutive championship title at the end of the reporting year. The deficit posted was -$3.8 million.
Overall, aside from football, the only other profitable team at Oklahoma in FY2023 was men’s basketball ($2.7 million).
