Miami always posts the reports publicly, which is nice and easy as some schools require you actually request it. For those interested, Miami shares all major athletic contracts here: Frequently Requested Contracts and Reports | Miami University
The NCAA financial report is towards the bottom and FY25 is the new one. This would be last school year (so 2024 football and 24-25 basketball as the big sports).
Some quick hits:
Ticket rev up from 932k to 1.777m. I assume a lot of this is from the 2024 UC home game in football (football went from 294k to 835k). Basketball also up about 50k. Even hockey was up a very nice 120k and remember this is last year before the hockey resurgence.
Student fees are also up though as the cost of doing business goes up. From 18.7m to 20.7m. Not good for parents paying like bluesman. Direct institutional support, so the general fund, dropped 800k though, so overall school support was only around 1.2m increase.
Contributions doubled from 1.5m to 3m. Almost all the increase appears to be a big football donation as they went from 237k to 1.5m
Total operating expenses almost exactly flat: 40.6m to 40.8m
The report actually reports a small surplus for the first time in a long time (41.1m rev > 40.8m expenses) but remember there’s 20m of student fees in there so the department isn’t making money, just a small departure from previous reporting where they always balanced out. Indicates we brought in more money than expected maybe?
Feel free to share anything else interesting you see. Very interested to see the FY26 in a year, as thats when we’ll see the first house settlement rev share data and the true new costs of the NIL world the school is shouldering.
3 Likes
Athletic facilities debt service, lease, rentals dropped from 2 million to 25k. So we paid something off. Even with the 2m drop there, other expenses is why things were still fairly flat with the increase in revenue. Sounds like with a drop in debt service, we now have room for a new arena.
Thanks for digging this up. It’s good to see the department generating some more revenue, but as you note we’re still putting a big burden on our current students. Holding expenses flat in this environment also is pretty impressive, but that is likely to become more difficult if the university wants to retain successful coaching staffs and even attempt to keep up with the never-ending arms race in recruiting, amenities, etc. Overall, I’d call this report mildly encouraging for our ability to maintain a good, well-rounded “mid-major” level athletic program in the evolving landscape for college athletics, but finding ways to increase non-institutional revenue will be an ongoing challenge.
@ Devil: I consider it a wash with the amazing national exposure Miami University is experiencing due to the athletics program’s success (MBB, Snoop Dogg Bowl, Hockey). These are all national advertisements for MU.
Miami had over 42K applications last year, and should likely have over 45K this year. More selectivity and a lower admit rate bodes well for Miami’s reputation.
Also, Miami is positioning it very well for weathering the demographic cliff by becoming a “hot” school.
1 Like
A lot of the regional basketball role models we are chasing (X, UD, Butler) are private schools so hard to get their reports. But I tried to find some public mid-majors that have had success to see where we need to be. Again, most schools aren’t as transparent as Miami who just posts it online so hard to find for many. Remember, we are at 122,000 in basketball donations. Some of these are two or three years old so probably even higher but gives a sense of where the big guys are.
VCU (FY23) was 2.4m in basketball contributions
Wichita State (FY24) was 1.0m in basketball contributions
Charleston (FY24) was 560k in basketball contributions
Utah State (FY23) was 466k in basketball contributions
WKU (FY25) was 75k in basketball contributions
Gives a sense as where we need to be. Lots of work to do.
Thanks for the info - good report especially considering the state of college athletics . Credit to David Saylor. He has really settled into the AD job - if you have not listened to his interview on Redhawk Rewind I strongly recommend it . Saylor’s hiring of coaches is really impressive- now if he could only get CM to hire and properly use an OC and put correct emphasis on OOC games ….Miami is fortunate to have Saylor
1 Like
I think Miami’s applications are actually down this year fwiw. Under 40,000 I believe
Excellent point. I was doing some research yesterday on the cliff.it would seem this year is the peak year for 18 year olds in the US. Estimates are that as many as 400 small private colleges could close within the next 5-10 years. There have been nearly 40 colleges nationwide that have closed since the pandemic. Two states have consolidated several state-supported colleges already - Vermont and Pennsylvania. Universities like Northeastern and Vanderbilt are strategically buying closed campus properties in an effort to create expanded footprints.
Athletics success is continuing to keep Miami a “hot school” - and will certainly increase applications as we continue to receive positive publicity..