How Nebraska volleyball rallied financially in FY2023
LINCOLN, Neb. (BVM) – The University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s athletic department has filed its annual financial report to the NCAA for the 2023 fiscal year.
Note that fiscal year 2023 covers the reporting year from July 1, 2022 to June 30, 2023 – which is mostly indicative of the 2022 volleyball season in which the Cornhuskers were eliminated by Oregon in the regional round of the NCAA Tournament, and finished the season 26-6 overall.
Here are the takeaways about Nebraska volleyball’s revenue, expenses and profits from FY2023. The 82-page report was obtained by BVM Sports through an open records request.
Revenue
Nebraska athletics generated $204,831,356 in total operating revenue across all sports in FY2023. This means – that for the first time in history – the Huskers have joined the milestone $200 million revenue club. The most that the athletic department has ever made in revenue was $143.4 million back in FY2022.
Notably, few college athletic departments have cracked $200 million in revenue; the previous 2022 fiscal year included only Ohio State, Texas, Alabama, Michigan and Georgia.
The Huskers’ volleyball program raked in $4.42 million in revenue to round out FY2023, which is up from the $3.8 million total from FY2022. Volleyball was the third-most revenue-generating sport on campus, considering that football made $122.8 million and men’s basketball made $17.5 million.
Revenue from volleyball’s ticket sales went up slightly – jumping from $2.1 million in FY2022 to $2.2 million in FY2023. The only other teams at Nebraska to bring in seven figures in ticket sales were football ($30.7 million) and men’s basketball ($3.4 million).
Volleyball saw a 42% spike in game programs, novelties, parking and concession sales – totaling $805,104. The only other team to generate more than volleyball in this category was football at $5.7 million.
Volleyball tied with women’s basketball for media rights revenue ($127,267). Notably, the university made $48.9 million from media right across all sports.
Unfortunately, volleyball’s revenue from royalties, licensing, advertisement and sponsorships went down from $701,972 in FY2022 to $284,578 in FY2023.
Expenses
Nebraska athletics across all sports spent $190,870,384 in total operating expenses in FY2023, which is a substantial increase from the $131.2 million spent back in FY2022.
Volleyball spent $4.41 million as the fourth most expensive sports program on campus – behind football ($72.8 million), men’s basketball ($10.4 million) and women’s basketball ($5.3 million). Back in FY2022, volleyball expensed just $3.6 million.
Notably, volleyball used up just $46,407 of the university’s $2.9 million recruiting budget. Head and assistant volleyball coaching salaries, benefits and bonuses rose from $1.1 million in FY2022 to $1.7 million in FY2023.
Profits
Nebraska’s athletic department as a whole posted $13,960,972 in profits during FY2023, which is a $1.7 million increase from FY2022.
Volleyball turned out a profit of $6,372 in FY2023, which is down from the $233,454 made back in FY2022.
Overall, volleyball was one of just three profitable sports programs on Nebraska’s campus in FY2023 – behind football ($50 million) and men’s basketball ($7.1 million).
