UGA approves 2027 athletic budget; AD says Bulldogs can keep up financially

GREENSBORO — So much of running an athletic department these days has to feel like being an accountant.

Georgia athletic director Josh Brooks is weighing a number of revenue sources to keep the school on pace with the elite programs in college athletics. From future concerts to jersey patches, everything is on the table.

On Friday, the school approved its budget for the 2027 fiscal year, with total revenue expected to come in at $239,071,915. That’s almost an 8% increase from the 2026 budget, with a reported revenue of $220,973,670.

“You have to get fans to understand that we’re in a new era where money is a huge piece of the competitive advantage,” Brooks told reporters following the approval of the budget.

One key difference between this year’s budget and last year’s: The school is already projecting revenue from two football postseason games. That amounts to $8,640,691 on the projected budget for next season.

Football ticket revenue is the second-biggest line on the budget, behind only the annual distribution of money Georgia gets from the SEC. For the upcoming season, projected ticket revenue is $46,162,960.

Even with marquee games against Oklahoma and Auburn on the schedule, the biggest game in terms of projected ticket revenue is the neutral-site game against Florida. The school projects to make $8.5 million in ticket revenue from that game, which will be played in Atlanta this season because of renovations in Jacksonville, Fla. It is the only game on the 2026 schedule where Georgia projects it will make more than $6 million in ticket revenue.

With that in mind, you can understand why Brooks and Georgia are open to having a 2028 game against Florida State played at a neutral site. Brooks pointed to Atlanta and Charlotte, North Carolina, as past successful host sites for season-opening games.

One of the talking points from Brooks and Georgia President Jere Morehead coming out of the athletic board meetings has been regarding financial fair play.

“It’s so important that we’re playing by the same rules as we’re talking about what can come from the school from a rev share point and what can be done from over the cap,” Brooks said “It’s not a question of ‘do we have the money?’ or ‘can we raise the money?’ Right now, the issue is activating the money, and we’ve got a bunch of schools like us that are getting the money in, trying to activate it the right way, running into some challenges of how it’s being interpreted.”

Consider that on the 2027 budget, there is a projected expenses tab for NIL operations, which totals $22,683,476. That line did not exist on the 2026 budget, as those expenses were lumped into general sports.

Brooks is confident Georgia can continue to keep up in the financial world. The school announced that a $10 million donation had been made to the basketball program, the largest single donation received by UGA.