The Kansas athletic department benefited from a reenergized football fanbase in the fiscal year 2023, to the tune of increased revenues from ticketing, concessions, merchandise and sponsorships.
“I think the theme for ’23 is return on investment, particularly in football,” Kansas Athletics Chief Financial Officer Pat Kaufman said. “A couple years ago we invested in a coaching staff in a bigger way than we had previously, and the fruits of that investment really showed in ’23 with a six-win bowl season, and it drove unbudgeted revenue growth in so many different ways.”
The department is now projected to finish with $115 million in annual revenue, Kaufman said, rather than the expected $109 million, yielding what he called a “modest surplus.” The Kansas Athletics board of directors bet on additional football growth Friday and approved at its quarterly meeting a break-even budget of $127 million for the fiscal year 2024.
Athletic Director Travis Goff said that in the upcoming year, the department expects to benefit from a full cycle of increased interest in season tickets for football, as well as a minor price increase in season tickets for men’s basketball.
On the other hand, Kansas Athletics will also incur added expenses. Its temporary pandemic-era reduction on debt payment terms has expired, Kaufman said, and it also brought on plenty of new hires.
After the NCAA voted to eliminate volunteer assistant coaching positions, KU underwent what Goff called an “exhaustive” evaluative process and fully hired on essentially all of the former volunteer assistants for sports besides football and golf.
“Every department across the country’s had their own consideration of whether or not to convert or to add a permanent full-time paid assistant coach to these programs,” Goff said.
Kaufman noted that the department also upped its number of mental health professionals to three, added three facility maintenance workers and brought on a pair of full-time employees in the name, image and likeness space.
In response to a question from Chancellor Douglas Girod about the responsibilities of these NIL employees, Tate Gillespie and Casey Seberger (given how restricted universities are in the NIL space), Deputy Athletics Director for External Affairs and Revenue Generation Jason Booker explained that “they have direct sport contact and liaise with specific teams,” helping athletes reach out to brands with whom they may want to partner and obtain NIL opportunities that are not provided by donors.
“You see investments in people,” said Jeff DeWitt, the university’s CFO, as he moved to approve the budget, “you see investments in services we need like mental health and paying our coaches … I think this is a responsible budget given where we are and where we’re going with the 11th and Mississippi project and other items.”
The $127 million budget exceeds 2023’s, but also provides an even starker contrast in comparison to, say, the $89 million in operating expenses that Kansas incurred at the height of the pandemic.
“You think about 50% increase a short three years later,” Girod said, “it’s pretty remarkable.”
Other notes
• Goff stressed the importance of continuity in the coaching ranks in football and men’s basketball. He cited extensions for football coaches late last year that “removed doubts or clouds” as to whether the staff would stay intact. He also said that after men’s basketball coach Bill Self’s health scare in March, “Here we are just a few months later feeling arguably better than ever about the direction of Kansas men’s basketball, and Bill more invigorated than arguably ever before, his staff locked in and focused on continuing to move that program forward.”
• Goff said that certain elements of the Allen Fieldhouse major renovation will be completed in time for the 2023-24 season, and all will be done by the start of the 2024-25 season. As for the gateway project at 11th and Mississippi, he expects the “full vision” to be announced late in 2023, following so-called “charrettes” in which the school invites community members to provide feedback ahead of the full unveiling.
• Girod asked about the athletic department’s approach to sports betting in light of recent gambling scandals at Alabama and Iowa, and Deputy AD for Compliance and Legal Affairs Megan Walawender said that extensive education is already in place not only for players, but for managers and medical staff who also have access to privileged information. The education urges players to be wary if someone asks, for example, “How’d practice go?”: “Are they asking because they care about you,” Walawender said, “or are they asking because they’re trying to get information because they’re interested in placing a bet?”
Nick Krug
