Where Gamecock athletic department stood in national financial picture pre-pandemic
It’s clear the finances of college sports will look different than 2018-19. The coronavirus pandemic took the NCAA basketball tournament, and with it a good deal of revenue, and it’s threatening to upend college football.
But USA Today’s annual database of athletic department finances has rounded up data from the last year untouched by disruption, and South Carolina maintained its place as a top-20 revenue department.
In 2018-19, the school brought in $140.696 million, 17th nationally, while spending $136.88 million, 18th. The revenue total was eighth in the SEC according to the database.
Texas A& had the highest revenue in the conference at $212.748 million. Clemson brought in $133.861, 22nd in the country.
The biggest parts of the revenue were rights/licensing ($60.25 million), contributions ($31.763 million) and tickets ($28.706 million). The department spent $52.271 million on staff, $19.402 million on scholarships and $29.759 million on facilities and overhead.
The revenues overall had actually plateaued from the year prior, growing by a hint more than $0.6 million, in part impacted by a listed drop of more than $6 million in contributions. The program had seen jumps of $9 million, $14 million and $4 million in each of the three seasons before that.
The growth in expenses also slowed, but still rose about $2 million.
South Carolina has not finished in the red since the mid-2000s, and athletic director Ray Tanner said the department was in the black for the recently finished 2019-20 financial year.
