The Finances of Collegiate Golf
Division I Programs are spending nearly $1 million per year.
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Hey Golfers —
There are 350 Division I schools in the United States.
296 Universities offer Men’s Golf
265 Universities offer Women’s Golf
College athletic departments generate millions in revenue — but rarely do they generate a profit. Only 25 of the 350 Division I universities generated a profit in 2019.
Here is a look at the top ten athletic departments by revenue in 2019.
The NCAA breaks Division I athletics into four categories.
Power Five (62 Men’s Golf Teams)
Group of Five (58 Men’s Golf Teams)
FCS (97 Men’s Golf Teams)
Subdivision (79 Men’s Golf Teams)
Only two sports generated a profit in the Power Five category — Football and Men’s Basketball. Every sport in the three other categories lost money in 2019.
Men’s Golf in the Power Five category only generates more revenue than two sports — Gymnastics and Fencing. Men’s Golf is also consistently towards the bottom in the remaining three categories.
The median revenue for a Men’s Golf program was spread relatively even across the four categories in 2019.
Power Five — $212,000
Group of Five — $165,000
FCS — $202,000
Subdivision — $200,000
But the median expenses for a Men’s Golf program showed a much broader range in the four categories in 2019.
Power Five — $946,000
Group of Five — $471,000
FCS — $266,000
Subdivision — $288,000
To provide some context — Power Five schools have significantly larger athletic budgets. In 2019, the median athletic expense for an athletic department was $239 million. The median athletic expense for a Group of Five school was $77 million.
The median expenses for a Men’s Golf program have skyrocketed from 2011 to 2019.
Power Five — 72%
Group of Five — 73%
FCS — 59%
Subdivision — 44%
The median revenue for a Men’s Golf program has paced nicely from 2011 to 2019 — except for the Group of Five.
Power Five — 44%
Group of Five — (7%)
FCS — 68%
Subdivision — 39%
How does Women’s Golf stack up? Let’s run through the same numbers as we did for Men’s Golf.
The median revenue for a Women’s Golf program in 2019. Interestingly, median revenue for Power Five wasn’t the highest.
Power Five — $186,000
Group of Five — $178,000
FCS — $219,000
Subdivision — $190,000
More money was spent on expenses for a Women’s Golf program in 2019 than Men’s Golf.
Power Five — $970,000
Group of Five — $457,000
FCS — $296,000
Subdivision — $324,000
Women’s golf has seen tremendous growth in spending — total expenses for Women’s Golf from 2011 to 2019.
Power Five — 77%
Group of Five — 45%
FCS — 66%
Subdivision — 49%
Total revenue for a Women’s Golf program hasn’t accelerated in growth like Men’s Golf from 2011 to 2019.
Power Five — 12%
Group of Five — 7%
FCS — 63%
Subdivision — 28%
Here is the interesting thing regarding profits.
Only four men’s golf teams turned a profit in 2019 — one in the Power Five and three in the FCS.
The craziest stat — looking at every sport in the four categories in Women’s Division I athletics. Only seven teams turned a positive profit. Of those seven — three were women’s golf teams.
Let’s take it a step further.
Curious how Division II and Division III Men’s Golf programs stack up against Division I in 2019?
Division II Revenue — $105,900
Division III Revenue — $49,800
Division II and III Men’s Golf programs essentially break even — impressive.
The most glaring statistic is the median athletic expense per student-athlete in 2019. Keep in mind this is for all athletes, not just golfers. A Power Five program spends $218,194 per student-athlete.
It is unlikely that Collegiate Golf will ever turn a profit like Power Five Football or Men’s basketball. But as a fan of golf — it is exciting to see the investment into Men’s and Women’s golf programs.
In a future newsletter, I will dive into how these programs spend their money. Let’s just say that some collegiate programs have better practice facilities and travel better than PGA Tour and LPGA Tour players.
Have yourself a great Monday. Talk to you next week!
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Great piece Jared!
You need to define....Revenues -- from what? Expenses would be I suppose scholarships, travel, the main ones, equipment although many golf programs receive "Free" equipment from the major golf equipment companies, golf course rental.