Syracuse, N.Y. -- The coronavirus pandemic ended a streak of three consecutive years in which the Syracuse athletic department brought in record revenues.
According to data submitted by the school to the United States Department of Education, Syracuse’s athletic department brought in $86.4 million in revenue during the 2019-20 academic year. That was a drop from $99.8 million the previous year.
Syracuse athletic director John Wildhack said that much of that decrease occurred because of the cancellation of the revenue-heavy ACC and NCAA tournaments in men’s basketball just as the coronavirus pandemic was beginning to disrupt life in the United States.
“It’s primarily that,” Wildhack said of the cancelled postseasons. “The other thing is that how they account for revenue and expenses is, candidly, far different than how we account for revenue and expenses internally. It’s a requirement that we submit that data and their calculations are different than ours. But in terms of revenue loss, it was primarily driven by the ACC Tournament and, primarily, that the NCAA men’s tournament wasn’t played.”
While schools often dislike the use of the federal data, the numbers provided by the school to the government for its Equity in Athletics Data Analysis provide one of the only windows into the athletic finances of private schools like Syracuse, who are not obligated to provide financial details to the public.
In addition to the cancelled March Madness event, the 2019-20 timeframe included a record number of new season tickets sold for football but a decrease in the program’s fortunes, as SU slipped from 10 wins to five.
In addition to the men’s basketball tournaments, the women’s NCAA Tournament and the majority of the spring sport seasons were also cancelled due to the coronavirus.
Along with the $86.4 million in revenue, the school reported $80 million in athletic expenses. The school’s spending dropped from $82.9 million the previous year.
While Syracuse continued to report a surplus generated within its athletic department to the federal government, the amount of that surplus dropped from $16.9 million to $6.4 million.
Syracuse ranked 59th out of the 65 Power-Five schools in revenue generated from athletics in 2019-20 and 60th in spending. Ohio State led the country in revenue, reporting $225.5 million on its EADA form, while reporting that it spent $189.1 million.
The numbers provide an idea of the financial gap that exists even at the Power-Five level, between Syracuse and the most powerful athletic programs in the country.
Notre Dame ranked sixth in the country in revenue, pulling in $158.8 million. Florida State led the full-time ACC schools pulling in $155.7 million, which ranked 10th.
According to the report, just over a quarter of Syracuse’s athletic spending ($21.5 million) was dedicated to money redistributed to the academic side of the school in the form of financial aid for athletes.
That is the seventh-largest amount devoted toward scholarships in the country by any athletic department.
The data indicates that Syracuse devotes a higher percentage of its spending to financial aid than any other Power-Five school. Florida State ranked last among the Power-Five, with just 7.1 percent of its athletic spending going toward toward financial aid in 2019-20.
When it is released next year, Syracuse’s 2020-21 financial report will reflect a year of in which the school did not have any attendance in the Carrier Dome during football or basketball season. The school implemented a variety of cost-savings measures, including voluntary pay cuts for some of its highest-paid coaches.
Wildhack said that Syracuse will continue to take a cautious financial approach until more clarity about the coronavirus recovery occurs.
“I salute our staff and our coaches,” Wildhack said. “We did a really good job at managing, limiting and cutting our expenses the past year while not, in any way, jeopardizing the services and support we provide our student-athletes. That’s sacrosanct. That’s why we do what we do.
“As we segue into the next year, we’re still going to be very conservative with our spending. Part of that comes back to the fact that, until we know exactly what’s going to happen from a capacity standpoint, I think it’s most prudent that we manage our expenses very carefully. If we are at full attendance, then there will be opportunities to increase where we made spending cuts last year.”
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