College athletics cost more than they bring. A new government report shows colleges spent $20.8 billion on athletics in 2023-2024 while generating only $13.1 billion in revenue, leaving a $7.2 billion gap that institutions covered with their own funds. That money comes partly from student tuition and federal financial aid, according to a Government Accountability Office (GAO) analysis released in August.
The shortfall is growing. By 2023-2024, that median gap had nearly doubled to $20.6 million. Spending has climbed faster than revenue across all Division I levels over the past decade, and colleges have closed the gap not by cutting costs but by digging deeper into institutional budgets.
The problem concentrates at the top. Sixty-nine colleges in the most competitive conferences account for more than half of all Division I spending. Yet 49 of those 69 "Power" colleges ran deficits in 2023-2024, meaning even the richest programs cannot cover their athletics costs with athletics revenue alone.
A settlement allows Division I colleges to share up to $20.5 million of revenue with student-athletes annually, beginning with the 2025-2026 academic year. That money continues to come from institutional budgets, which rely in part on tuition and federal student aid.
Researchers examined financial data from the NCAA membership database for the 2014-2015 and 2023-2024 academic years and interviewed representatives from four stakeholder organizations. The NCAA provided the underlying data but had no role in developing the report.
The findings lay bare a financial reality: colleges have not solved the athletics spending problem they have simply shifted who pays for it.
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