Syracuse Athletics registered its third straight year of record setting revenues, drawing $99.8 million in 2018-19. After taking over as SU’s Director of Athletics in July 2016, John Wildhack has overseen three consecutive years of increased revenue.

The public data, first reported on by Syracuse.com, is released online annually in accordance with the Equity in Athletics Disclosure Act. All higher education institutions that participate in a federal student aid program are required to submit revenues and expense reports. Along with rising revenues, SU recorded an increase in expenses from the previous year in 2018-19 — from $77.1 million to $82.9 million. It reported the 11th most expenses in the Atlantic Coast Conference, almost $120 million behind conference leader Florida State.

The “financial reports each department files with the NCAA are far superior” to the information made available from Equity in Athletics Data Analysis, according to Forbes’ Kristi Dosh. This is because of restrictions on filing with significant surplus or losses and varying reporting techniques. But, as SU is a private institution, the EADA report offers a rare opportunity to examine the athletic revenue and expenses.

Here’s a look at some of Syracuse’s athletic programs.

Football

The 2018-19 football team generated more than half of Syracuse Athletics’ revenue and expenses on the men’s side. It was the Orange’s most successful football team in almost two decades, as SU won its most games (10) since 2001 and saw a rise in both revenue ($43.8 million) and expenses ($28 million). Syracuse’s expenses ranked as the tenth-highest in the ACC, trailing ACC champion Clemson ($55.6 million) and the ACC’s highest-spending program Florida State ($68.9 million).

During SU’s 10-3 campaign, the Orange knocked off two teams with higher 2018-19 expenses — Florida State and Louisville. In the Camping World Bowl, SU defeated West Virginia, who recorded $22.3 million in 2018-19 expenses and $24.7 million in revenue.

Men’s basketball

After 23 wins, including three in a run to the NCAA Tournament’s Sweet 16 in 2017-18 Syracuse’s men’s basketball team registered $31.8 million in revenue. Despite recording three fewer wins and failing to advance in the tournament, the team’s revenue jumped to $34.6 in 2018-19, representing over one-third of SU’s total athletic revenue. 

Syracuse Athletics registered $14.8 million in expenses for the men’s basketball team. Compared to ACC opponents with similar (within 2,000) undergraduate enrollment, Syracuse registered the highest men’s basketball expenses — over Georgia Tech ($7.1 million) and Virginia ($13.4 million). SU’s overall recruiting expenses, $1.1 million, was below both the Yellow Jackets’ and Cavaliers’.

Women’s basketball

In the 2018-19 season, SU women’s basketball recorded its most wins since 2015-16, and brought in $2.4 million in revenue. That represented over 20% of women’s athletic revenue at SU in 2018-19. After a rise from 2017-18 revenue of $1.9 million, SU still trailed many ACC opponents, including Duke, Virginia and Miami. Florida State once again led the ACC in women’s basketball revenue, generating $7.7 million. 

Syracuse women’s basketball’s expenses fell from $5.46 to $5.44 million from 2016-17 to 2017-18, but in the most recent report they rose. Quentin Hillsman’s program recorded $6 million in expenses, the fourth most in the ACC.

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SU’s basketball and football programs combined to represent 58.9% of expenses and 80.9% of all revenue generated in 2018-19. The next largest program expenses were for the men’s ($3.3 million) and women’s ($2.6 million) lacrosse teams. Syracuse’s men’s and women’s lacrosse team’s combined for $3.9 million in total revenue as the men’s team led the nation in average attendance. 

Syracuse spends the most on both programs in the ACC, and the most in the nation on men’s lacrosse. SU also leads the conference in spending on field hockey. SU’s women’s ice hockey program and women’s rowing team were the only programs beside football, basketball and lacrosse to surpass $2.5 million in expenses. 

The across-the-board rise in expenses during Wildhack’s tenure as Syracuse athletic director is consistent with his message to “fund every program at the school to be competitive,” he told Syracuse.com. While Syracuse men’s basketball and football failed to rank in the top 25 in 2019-20, SU’s men’s and women’s lacrosse and field hockey were ranked when their season was concluded (or was canceled).

The spread of the novel coronavirus led to the cancellation of all remaining spring ACC athletics as well as the men’s and women’s NCAA basketball tournaments, which will certainly affect next year’s EADA numbers. Reports estimate that the NCAA will lose $475 million in revenue due to the cancellations, and it will remain to be seen how that loss will affect individual athletic programs such as Syracuse’s.

Published on March 26, 2020 at 1:11 am

Contact Mitchell: mbannon@syr.edu