Kansas Athletics Projects $30 Million Drop in Revenues
COVID-19 has taken an enormous toll on college athletics the past 10 months, and now we’re getting a look into just how bad those financial losses are going to be.
In a new report from KUSports.com, Kansas athletics is projected to see a drop in $30 million in revenue due to lost games and limited fans in attendance at games.
According to updated projections, KU Athletics is currently projecting about $70 million in revenue for the fiscal year, after projecting a number of nearly $100 million months ago.
The Big 12’s distribution is a big part of the revenue stream, that is projected to take a huge hit. Last year, each Big 12 program received $38 million, but that number is now projected to be closer to $23 million, driven by fewer football and basketball games on television and fewer sponsorships.
Projections for men’s basketball fell from $13.7 million to $2.3 million. Football’s projected ticket revenue dropped from $4.2 million to $519,000.
While Kansas Athletics did implement pay cuts and furloughs for the fiscal year, their expenses are still expected to be $89 million, which would lead to a $13 million deficit, helped by a $5 million surplus in the previous fiscal year.
However, it is expected that KU will need to use some of their line of credit for cash flow. There’s no doubt this issue is going to be prevalent across all college athletics, which will affect some programs more than others moving forward.
