Top Basketball Budgets 2025

[BrunswickDawg]

For those thinking Basketball should be where we spend more money........

https://www.extrapointsmb.com/p/here-s-what-it-costs-to-make-a-run-in-march-madness?utm_source=www.extrapointsmb.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=here-s-what-it-costs-to-make-a-run-in-march-madness&_bhlid=5bd7c7cc32e5e45312edcaff868c2007792c2742

Here are the top Men?s Basketball operating budgets from FY25:
FY25 Total Expenses

Indiana University, Bloomington $32,041,364
University of Tennessee, Knoxville $23,183,445
University of Arizona $22,608,493
University of Texas at Austin $22,403,330
University of Connecticut $21,554,604
University of Arkansas, Fayetteville $21,254,027
Michigan State University $21,009,976
University of Kentucky $20,787,671
Auburn University $20,535,097
University of Louisville $19,884,419
University of Kansas $19,732,079
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign $18,619,676
University of Mississippi $18,228,378
University of California, Los Angeles $17,799,741
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill $16,813,590
University of Virginia $16,684,746
Texas Tech University $16,600,424
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick $16,096,898
University of Minnesota, Twin Cities $15,668,467
University of Alabama $15,230,392
Florida State University $15,064,639
Pennsylvania State University $15,001,847
University of Houston $14,626,221
The Ohio State University $14,588,893
University of Michigan $14,358,515
University of Missouri, Columbia $14,354,000
Texas A&M University, College Station $14,318,327
University of California, Berkeley $14,101,936
University of Oregon $14,072,869
Purdue University $14,040,438
University of Oklahoma $13,662,135
University of Nebraska-Lincoln $13,427,513
University of Iowa $13,292,249
University of Maryland, College Park $12,972,857
North Carolina State University $12,873,636
Clemson University $12,799,513
University of Washington $12,761,916
University of Wisconsin-Madison $12,431,427
Mississippi State University $12,220,602
University of Cincinnati $11,883,407
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University $11,541,638
Kansas State University $11,464,762
University of Utah $11,191,830
Louisiana State University $11,104,405
University of South Carolina, Columbia $11,074,153
University of Memphis $10,776,074
West Virginia University $10,766,985
Iowa State University $10,578,135
University of Georgia $10,400,030
Arizona State University $10,185,948

[Coach34]

Mississippi's budget is 33% larger than ours...interesting

[BrunswickDawg]

Summarize -

We are #11 in the SEC - with UF and Vandy not reporting.
We are ahead of LSU, USC and UGA.

Basketball is weird - I don't think spending much more is our issue. I think in this case it really does come down to available talent, talent evaluation, and coaching probably more than any sport.
We made the NCAA at $12m - is winning 2 games worth the extra $6m that OM spent to go to the Sweet Sixteen?

[msstate7]

Delete

[BrunswickDawg]

Mississippi's budget is 33% larger than ours...interesting

To get 2 more post season wins last year. Is that really worth it? They also dropped like a rock this year. So they are not getting their monies worth in 2026 for sure.

[msstate7]

Mississippi's budget is 33% larger than ours...interesting

New stadium? Is our renovation figured in ours?

[BrunswickDawg]

New stadium? Is our renovation figured in ours?

That number includes all the money a school spends on coaching salaries, administrative salaries, scholarships, travel, software, recruiting, and all sorts of other operational expenses. It does not include athlete revenue share payments.

I would say it likely does not include capital expenses based on the above.

[StarkVegasSteve]

This does not include NIL in any form. Rev share or other.

[Coach34]

But this does show how we lag behind on staff and such in all the sports. 6MM more in basketball. 4MM more in baseball (altho we closed that gap significantly for 2026). That's 10MM more in their budget in places we expected to be equal at worst and ahead if we are being honest. In football, I know they spend at least 15MM more than us- so we are looking at about a 25MM deficit in the Big 3. That's pretty significant. Being a baller on a budget is a tough life as we well know

[BrunswickDawg]

But this does show how we lag behind on staff and such in all the sports. 6MM more in basketball. 4MM more in baseball (altho we closed that gap significantly for 2026). That's 10MM more in their budget in places we expected to be equal at worst and ahead if we are being honest. In football, I know they spend at least 15MM more than us- so we are looking at about a 25MM deficit in the Big 3. That's pretty significant. Being a baller on a budget is a tough life as we well know

That tracks with 2024 AD total spending (from the Knight Report)
In 2024, we spent $139m and OM spent $157m overall on athletics.

[BankerDog]

Doesn?t help when the school president is taking money away from athletic side of the house to fund the school side. And by taking it away, I mean about $10MM per year every year since 2010 or so being moved from raised money for athletics/tv money to academics.

[Goldendawg]

Mississippi's budget is 33% larger than ours...interesting

Hey, they won a couple of SEC tournament games and still had a losing season like us. Portal evaluation and players who get paid win or lose, even when the wheels fall off, make the hard-to-manage college game of today difficult to rebuild a "roster" every year. And don't forget, helping them with their progress toward a degree when they are at their sixth school or so.***

[Goldendawg]

Doesn?t help when the school president is taking money away from athletic side of the house to fund the school side. And by taking it away, I mean about $10MM per year every year since 2010 or so being moved from raised money for athletics/tv money to academics.

From what I have read, our academic standing has been constantly falling over the last few years also.

[R2Dawg]

From what I have read, our academic standing has been constantly falling over the last few years also.

This isn't just an MSU thing. It is happened everywhere and at HS levels too. Most HS revolve their entire existence on sports programs.

[R2Dawg]

Iowa St. getting a good return on their investment.

[PGHBulldogBG]

If anyone thinks we are going to win in sports due to money then they are living in LaLa land. We have one of the smallest if not the smallest athletic budget in the SEC. That is why it is more important that we have competent leadership and coaches to make the best of what we can. We are never going to be Texas, Bama or LSU but we can be Missouri. Anyone downplaying Ole Miss making the sweet 16 I would absolutely love to be able to do that. It is better than anything we have done in football or basketball since being #1 in football with Dak and making the orange bowl in 2014. I would be so happy if we could get to the 2nd weekend and beat quality teams like North Carolina and Iowa State. I would rather miss the tournament for a few years and have some fun tournament runs every once in awhile like Williams did as opposed to Stan’s and Jans who make it a lot but never win anything.

[maroonmania]

That number includes all the money a school spends on coaching salaries, administrative salaries, scholarships, travel, software, recruiting, and all sorts of other operational expenses. It does not include athlete revenue share payments.

I would say it likely does not include capital expenses based on the above.

Which means these numbers are almost worthless if it doesn't tell you how much the school is spending in revenue share and what is being spent on NIL.