BULLDOGS’ REVENUE
The UGA Athletic Association’s budget for next fiscal year, which starts July 1, shows projected revenue from the following sources:
Football tickets $24,884,750
Other sports tickets $1,385,000
SEC distribution* $34,509,289
Multi-media* $10,500,000
Concessions and novelties $1,580,000
Sponsorships and licensing $3,900,000
Student fees $3,240,000
Gifts (Hartman Fund)* $24,500,000
Gifts (basketball enhancement) $670,000
Sanford Stadium sky suites $5,315,000
Other operating revenue $6,935,000
Total revenue: $117,419,039
* SEC distribution includes all revenue received from the conference, including for SEC Network, other TV contracts, bowls, College Football Playoff and other postseason events. Hartman Fund represents contributions linked to buying football season tickets. Multi-media includes radio and Internet rights and in-venue advertising.
Georgia’s athletics department is bringing in — and paying out — more money than ever before.
An $800,000-a-year raise for football coach Mark Richt. A $450,000 raise for Richt’s defensive coordinator, Jeremy Pruitt. A $300,000 raise for men’s basketball coach Mark Fox. An almost 100 percent increase in the football recruiting budget. An additional $1.5 million toward food for athletes.
All of those expenditures have been made this year in a spending spree driven by competitive pressures and funded in large part by the SEC’s new cash cow, the cable TV network that the league launched in partnership with ESPN last summer.
The windfall from SEC Network also has emboldened Georgia to move forward with aggressive plans for construction of an indoor practice facility for football and other sports. The price tag isn’t known yet, but estimates have reached $30 million-plus.
“The whole league has got more money coming in, and I think a lot of us are making similar decisions, whether it’s in coaches’ compensation or facility enhancements,” Andy Platt, Georgia’s senior associate athletic director in charge of finance, said in an interview at the SEC spring meetings.
The UGA Athletic Association’s budget for next fiscal year, which begins July 1, lists projected revenue of $117.4 million — up $17.6 million from the $99.8 million in revenue that was projected (but will be exceeded) in the current fiscal year.
The bulk of the growth can be traced to the SEC, which distributes to each member an equal share of the conference’s revenue from TV deals, football bowl and playoff games, and other postseason events.
Georgia’s budget for the current fiscal year, prepared without factoring in potential SEC Network revenue, forecast receiving $23 million from the conference. Instead, Georgia will receive $31.2 million, with the difference primarily attributable to the network. And Georgia’s revenue from the SEC is projected to increase next year to $34.5 million, according to UGA’s budget.
“Obviously, the SEC Network has been wildly successful,” Platt said. “It’s really driving a lot of that growth.”
Georgia’s athletics revenue also is growing in other areas. A $5-per-game increase in football ticket prices will generate an additional $2.3 million next season. Contributions to the Hartman Fund for priority rights to buy football season tickets increased by $1.1 million to $24.5 million.
The spending spree coincides, not coincidentally, with the revenue growth.
Georgia Athletic Director Greg McGarity said it became clear by January that SEC Network money would roll in this year, earlier and larger than expected. That is when Georgia’s spending began to accelerate.
“We knew the revenue was coming in, so we knew we could cover those expenses,” McGarity said.
Georgia’s budget for next fiscal year shows operating expenses of $100.3 million, an increase of $13.7 million over this year’s budgeted expenses. For football alone, expenses will jump $6.3 million, largely because of coaches’ salary increases and the addition of new support-staff positions.
The budget also projects that debt service will rise $2.3 million to $11.7 million. That increase is in anticipation of issuing up to $30 million in 20-year bonds to cover new facilities projects, including the indoor practice field, which will be paid for from some combination of debt, cash reserves and fundraising.
Richt’s raise lifted his annual salary to $4 million, making him the fifth highest paid SEC football coach after he had fallen to 12th. Pruitt’s raise, to $1.3 million, came after he received several competitive job offers. New offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer’s $957,000 salary is $382,000 more than predecessor Mike Bobo was paid. Fox’s raise lifted his salary to $2 million, which Georgia said puts him back on par with his SEC peers.
“I do think our coaches’ salaries are competitive across the board,” McGarity said.
New money is being spent in other areas, too.
Georgia will spend $800,000 on the new cost-of-attendance stipends for athletes and $1.5 million on additional meals and snacks that schools are permitted to provide athletes. Some $1.2 million will be spent on new infrastructure and personnel costs associated with televising Georgia events on SEC Network, and $960,000 will go toward paying tuition increases for scholarship athletes.
Another spending increase is in football recruiting. Georgia’s budget for next fiscal year allocates $1.25 million for football recruiting and coaches’ travel, up from the $638,000 that was contained in this year’s budget and was far exceeded.
“Call it a new approach. Call it a more aggressive style in recruiting,” McGarity said. “We responded to that and basically have budgeted what we have spent this past year.”
McGarity appears comfortable with both the revenue and expense sides of Georgia’s ledger.
“We are spending more,” he said, “but we really have been able to always work within our means.”
Suddenly the means are greater than ever.
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