South Carolina WBB makes — and spends — more than its SEC foes. Is it profitable?
Using his first question in the February state Senate hearing, Sen. Darrell Jackson asked South Carolina Athletic Director Jeremiah Donati how many Gamecock sport programs were profitable the last year?
“Twenty-two sports at South Carolina,” Donati responded. “Two are net positive ... football and men’s basketball.”
Jackson did a double-take.
“So even women’s basketball is not net positive?” Jackson asked.
“Correct,” Donati responded.
The truth is that no women’s college basketball team in America makes a profit. Not South Carolina. Not UConn. Not Texas, LSU or UCLA. And that is not an indictment on women’s basketball as much as it's a result of how television money is distributed.
Take the Gamecocks’ athletics department, for instance. In Fiscal Year 2025 (FY25) — which ran from July 1, 2024 to June 30, 2025 — the University of South Carolina made just over $44 million via its media rights, most of which comes from the SEC’s television contract with ESPN.
Yet, according to South Carolina’s annual NCAA financial report obtained by The State, none of that $44 million in media rights flowed directly to the women’s basketball team. The football program took in over $18.6 million from media rights, the men’s basketball program received $6.86 million and another $18.5 million was put in the “non-specific sport” bucket.
All that is to say: It is quite hard for college programs to operate at a profit without television money. Even the Gamecocks football program — which profited over $20.6 million in FY25 — would have just barely been in the green without its media-rights revenue.
That perspective is needed before discussing the financials of South Carolina’s most-successful program, the women’s basketball team. Knowing that, here’s a deeper dive.
How much money to South Carolina women’s basketball make ... and lose?
Over the past four fiscal years (from the 2021-22 through the 2024-25 season), the Gamecocks women’s basketball program won over 95% of its games (144-7), made the Final Four in every season and claimed two national titles (’22 and ‘24).
Financially, the program makes money. It just spends more than it makes.
Over those same four years, head coach Dawn Staley’s program has lost an average of $5.75 million annually — and no deficit was larger than that from FY25. Last season, the Gamecocks’ WBB program was $6.24 million in the red, losing over $600,000 more than it did in FY24.
But, in reviewing financial data from 15 of 16 SEC schools (Vanderbilt doesn’t have to release a report to the NCAA because it’s a private school), The State found that five SEC women’s basketball programs operated at a larger deficit that South Carolina in FY25: LSU (minus-$8 million), Texas (minus-$7.5 million), Ole Miss (minus-$7.4 million), Kentucky (minus-$6.6 million) and Arkansas (minus-$6.4 million).
Comparatively — and this perhaps explains the cause and effect of the Gamecocks’ success — no team in the SEC invested more or generated more revenue in women’s basketball than South Carolina last year.
In FY25, USC spent over $13 million on its women’s basketball team, including over $7 million in salaries on Staley, her assistants and the Gamecocks’ support staff. The only other SEC schools that spent more than $10 million on its WBB program were LSU ($12.1 million) and Texas ($10.9 million).
For reference: South Carolina put $2 million more into its women’s basketball program than its men’s team ($11 million in expenses).
Along those same lines, no women’s basketball program in the SEC generated more revenue than South Carolina, bringing in $6.88 million last season. The only other program in the conference to surpass $5 million was Tennessee ($5.17 million).
Two things are notable about South Carolina’s revenue from FY25.
First off, if you take away the media rights money that was distributed to the MBB program, the Gamecocks’ women’s basketball program made significantly more than the men ($8.59 million). And that’s not even including the NCAA Tournament “units,” which provide MBB teams with exponentially more money than WBB squads.
Secondly, South Carolina women’s basketball generated nearly a million dollars more in FY25 than it did in FY24 ($5.9 million). The biggest uptick came via ticket sales. During the magical 2023-24 season that saw Staley’s team go undefeated and win a national championship, USC brought in just over $1.63 million in ticket sales. Last season, South Carolina sold over $2 million worth of WBB tickets.
Per a USC athletics spokesperson, the rise was associated with “gradual increases in ticketing pricing.”
How can South Carolina WBB earn more revenue?
When Donati took over as athletic director at South Carolina last year, it was evident that USC wasn’t capitalizing on its most-dominant program on campus.
For instance: During the 2024 season that finished with South Carolina beating Iowa for the national title, the Hawkeyes ($3.3 million) — taking full advantage of the Caitlin Clark cash cow — profited more than twice as much from ticket sales as South Carolina ($1.63 million). That same season, UConn — bolstered by its own star in Paige Bueckers — made $3.25 million from tickets.
That was especially problematic for the Gamecocks considering they play in Colonial Life Arena, an 18,000-seat venue that has allowed them to lead the country in attendance for over a decade. In other words: It should be impossible for UConn — which plays nearly half its home games in an arena with under 10,000 seats — to double South Carolina’s ticket sales.
Donati seemed to understand that.
“We are taking a fresh look at ticket pricing for both season and single-game tickets and creating additional corporate partnerships to increase our revenue,” Donati said last year. “We want to find the balance of keeping a full basketball arena while also making sure that we’re asking and getting fair-market value for those opportunities.”
Speaking last May about Donati’s comments, Staley told The State: “I think if we do anything, it’s not going to hurt the people who can afford to come to our games. It’s probably going to who can really afford to, right? But it won’t hurt them as much. I think it’s hitting the right people, who can take the hit of a ticket increase.”
That’s exactly what happened.
Parking passes remained at $125. The cheapest season tickets — located around the baskets in the upper level — increased from $75 .... to just $80 for the entire season. The upper sideline season tickets were also bumped just $5 — from $100 to $105. Even the majority of the lower-bowl seating increased by either just $5 (behind the basket) or $10 (sidelines).
What changed was the premium seating. During the 2024-25 season, a premium seat at mid-court was $375 for the entire season. This season, those same seats cost $1,900 for the year. Even more drastic: Courtside season tickets jumped from $650 to $2,450, which is the exact amount USC charges for the men’s games.
Those changes will certainly generate more revenue for the women’s basketball program. We’ll have a better picture of exactly how much when the FY26 financial report is released.
For now, though, even if the Gamecocks’ WBB program isn’t making the athletic department a fortune, it is providing something the men’s teams haven’t: success.
This story was originally published March 27, 2026 at 8:00 AM.
