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The Business of TCU Athletics, 2014 Edition

Led by Athletics Director Chris Del Conte, TCU Athletics achieved another banner year financially, setting a record for total expenditures and gross football profit.

By Dr. Frasier Crane, MD, Ph.D
Matthew Emmons-USA TODAY Sports

The following data is provided by the US Department of Education. It covers the 2013-2014 school year, which is also the fiscal year for the athletic department.

Note: TCU, as a private institution, does not have to show actual numbers for revenue and often obfuscates that number to show every sport as  "break-even", which is certainly not the case (football is the exception this year). Thus, I have simplified the numbers to reflect just the total budget spent on each sport during the year, not revenue.

2013-14 Fiscal Year Sport Total Revenue Total Expenses Net Big 12 Rank (Expense) NCAA Rank (Expense)
TCU Football 40,451,397 34,654,689 5,796,708 2 5
Men's Basketball 6,761,637 7 44
Women's Basketball 3,854,942 4 24
Baseball 3,206,581 2 10
Total Athletic Spending 77,068,398 6 36

$77 million is a high water mark for TCU Athletics, which shouldn't be surprising at all. The athletics department spent $72 million the year before.

$40 million is also a record for Football revenue, as is the net income of $6 million. They spent $32 million on Football the previous year. There are only 4 teams in the country that spend more on Football than TCU.

Here are some other notes to consider:

  • The TCU Equestrian program had the largest budget of any collegiate equine program in the country at $2.8 million during 2013-14.
  • The TCU Women's Soccer team spent $1.78 million during 2013-14, good for 10th nationally.
  • The TCU Tennis (Men and Women) teams spent $2.132 million during 2013-14, good for 8th nationally.
  • TCU Baseball has the 10th biggest budget in all of College Baseball.
  • TCU received $14 million in media money from the Big 12 in 2013-14, helping towards their total budget of $77 million. If they had received a full share, they would have had received $23 million in media revenue, achieved a budget of $85 million, which would place them 35th in the country.

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