Gather around for it is time to go through Penn State athletics’ latest financial report that it’s required to submit to the NCAA.
This is the third year we’ve gone through the only document that gives us a clue on just how much money Penn State spends and makes by supporting 31 teams.
And this year, Penn State made more money than ever. Total revenue increased 15 percent from 2024-25 to $254,867,598 while Penn State spent $254,643,919. That is an 18 percent increase in spend year over year and works out to just $223,679 in profit. That’s a 96 percent decrease – however running an athletic department isn’t fully about making a profit. (More on that at the end.)
One of the biggest reasons for the increase in spend? NIL. In its first year in the revenue sharing era, Penn State spent more than $18 million of its $20.5 million that it’s eligible to spend on paying its athletes. This does not include money that athletes can make on their own from endorsements and brand deals. In a new tradition, we’re rolling out a sister piece that breaks down how Penn State allotted its NIL spending. You can see that here.
Below you can find a detailed breakdown and some insights into Penn State’s spending and revenue in 2024-25, the year in which Penn State football reached the College Football Playoff National Semifinals.
You can follow along here.
| Data | 2024-2025 | 2023-2024 | YOY |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total Revenue | $254,867,598 | $220,758,927 | 15% |
| Total Spend | $254,643,919 | $215,108,075 | 18% |
| Total Profit | $223,679 | $5,650,852 | -96% |
Revenue
- Penn State made roughly $24 million more than the previous year. This outpaced the $18 million jump Penn State made from 2022-23 to 2023-24.
- As always, a hefty portion of that money comes from three sources: Ticket sales, contributions and media rights.
- One of the biggest jumps in broken-down revenue sources was contributions. This jumped from $37M to $64.6M. There are likely a few reasons for this – however the biggest being that Penn State football’s Nittany Lion Club donation jumped up ahead of the 2024 season by at least $100, depending on the seat location. A reminder that money is pulled out of the cost of the ticket but is required to buy tickets. We also know that fundraising saw its best year ever but a decent portion of that money is spread out over years (i.e. the West Shore Home field naming rights deal over 15 years.)
- Penn State football saw contributions grow from $4.3M to $17M year over year. Wrestling also grew to $3.7M from $483K. It’s clear while there were more contributions reported that how it was reported also changed as 47 percent of contributions was not attributed to a gender in 2024-25 while 55 percent was not attributed in 2023-24. Additionally, women’s contribution levels remained flat while men’s increased by 182 percent.
- Media rights also increased by 39 percent to $58.5M. The logical explanation here is the inclusion of the four new teams in the Big Ten from the West Coast. One can also assume those deals are built with rising payouts over time.
- Let’s dive into ticket sales, which were down 0.38 percent year over year to $50.36M.
Ticket Sales
| Data | 2024-2025 | 2023-2024 | YoY |
|---|---|---|---|
| Football | $44.3M | $44.5M | -0.43% |
| MHKY | $2.3M | $2.2M | 6% |
| MBB | $1.69M | $1.8M | -8% |
| Wrestling | $1.68M | $1.3M | 33% |
| WVB | $202.4K | $205.4K | -1% |
| WBB | $150.5K | $210.0K | -28% |
| Men's Total | $50.0M | $49.7M | 0% |
| Women's Total | $347.4K | $452.5K | -23% |
Not Allocated by Gender Total | $62.7K | $374.2K | -83% |
| Total | $50.4M | $50.6M | -0.38% |
- Penn State football ticket sales, which drove $44.3M, fell by 0.43 percent year over year. That equates to a $191K decrease. In 2024, a single season ticket with fees cost $476. If we assume that the decrease was a miss of season ticket sales, that equates to 402 fewer season tickets sold. Since the 2021 season, this is the first year ticket sales for football have gone down.
- Penn State men’s hockey continues to outsell Penn State men’s basketball in ticket sales. Penn State men’s hockey – which reached the Frozen Four in 2024-25 – sold $2.3M in sales. That’s a 6 percent increase.
- Penn State men’s basketball, on the other hand, sold $1.7M last season, down from $1.8M.
- Penn State wrestling also sold $1.7M in ticket sales. In fact, Penn State men’s basketball only outsold Penn State wrestling by $9,021 in 2024-25. That $1.7M for Cael Sanderson’s team is also a 33 percent increase year over year.
- Penn State women’s basketball’s struggles on the court continue to show in the financial report. They generated 28 percent less in ticket sales year over year to just $150.5K.
- Penn State did not report women’s hockey sales in 2024-25 but did in 2023-24. I will check in on this and update if we get an answer.
Other Revenue Notes
| Data | 2024-2025 | 2023-2024 | YoY |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ticket Sales | $50.4M | $50.6M | -0.38% |
| Contributions | $64.6M | $37.0M | 74% |
| Media Rights | $58.5M | $42.1M | 39% |
| NCAA Distributions | $4.9M | $4.8M | 1% |
| Conference Distributions | $36.7K | $5.4M | -99% |
| Conference Postseason Revenue | $20.8M | $7.9M | 165% |
| Parking/Concessions | $10.2M | $15.2M | -33% |
| Licensing/Sponsorship | $25.1M | $15.2M | 66% |
| Endowment/Investment Income | $3.7M | $4.6M | -19% |
| Other Operating Revenue | $8.4M | $32.4M | -74% |
| Bowl Revenue | $5.3M | $2.8M | 88% |
| Sports Camps | $2.9M | $2.7M | 8% |
| Total Revenue | $254.9M | $220.8M | 15% |
- It seems like the NCAA changed the way it requires schools to report conference distributions. Penn State only reported $36.7K in conference distribution, down 99 percent year over year. But conference post-season revenue increased by 165 percent.
- Parking, concession and novelties revenue fell by 33 percent year over year to $10.2M. However, licensing and sponsors increased 66 percent to $25.1M. I will update this if we can get confirmation but Penn State has opened the apparel license to more brands and vendors. This could just be a change in how the money is being distributed in the report.
- Penn State reported a $12K loss in revenue from program, novelty, parking and concessions for Penn State basketball.
- It reported $8.7M in concessions and programs from football in 2024-25. This is roughly a $4M decrease year over year.
- Penn State made $579K from wrestling camps for high school and younger athletes.
- Penn State was reimbursed $5.3M for post-season football expenses.
- Penn State reported $7 in “other operating revenue” from field hockey. I want to know what the story there was.
- It will be interesting to see how the Legacy Fund is applied in the 2025-26 version of this report.
Top 10 Sports By Revenue
| Sport | Revenue |
|---|---|
| Football | $146,779,834 |
| MBB | $15,174,025 |
| WREST | $6,192,526 |
| MHKY | $5,541,211 |
| MLAX | $1,365,073 |
| WVB | $1,298,076 |
| Baseball | $1,265,379 |
| WSOC | $1,224,068 |
| WGYM | $826,685 |
| WBB | $801,396 |
Costs
| Data | 2024-2025 | 2023-2024 | YoY |
|---|---|---|---|
| Athletic Student Aid | $24.4M | $24.1M | 1% |
| Coaching Salaries | $43.5M | $42.4M | 2% |
| Support Staff Salaries | $41.1M | $38.3M | 7% |
| Severance Payouts | $1.7M | $929.5K | 88% |
| Recruiting | $4.6M | $4.8M | -5% |
| Team Travel | $10.1M | $12.0M | -16% |
| Equipment | $961.0K | $6.1M | -84% |
| Game Expenses | $16.4M | $17.0M | -4% |
| Marketing | $1.4M | $1.2M | 20% |
| Sports Camps Expenses | $3.2M | $3.5M | -9% |
| Spirit Groups | $297.5K | $652.4K | -54% |
| Facilites Debt/Fees/Rent | $24.2M | $17.3M | 40% |
Direct Overhead/Admin/Maintence | $16.4M | $17.6M | -7% |
| Medical Expenses/Insurance | $2.6M | $2.5M | 3% |
| Memberships/Dues | $109.1K | $214.8K | -49% |
| Athlete Meals | $2.5M | $2.6M | -5% |
| Bowl Expenses | $7.0M | $3.6M | 92% |
| Bowl Bonus | $4.1M | $1.1M | 281% |
NCAA FBall Postseason Hosting Expenses | $2.5M | $0.0K | na |
| NIL Revenue Share | $18.4M | na | |
| Total Costs | $254.6M | $215.1M | 18% |
- You’ve got to spend money to make money right? Well, Penn State spent $254.6M in 2024-25. This was an 18 percent or $39M increase year over year.
- Where did most of that money go? Salaries. Penn State spent $84.6M on salaries between coaches and support staff.
- There were more or less player salaries this year too. That cost Penn State $18M. As mentioned above, we broke that down by team here. The NIL revenue share is the fifth-largest line item on the financial report.
- If we remove that $18M in NIL spending, Penn State’s year over year spending essentially increased by $21 million year over year.
- One of the most interesting numbers on the report comes from a surprising decrease. Penn State spent $10.1M on team travel in 2024-25. That’s a 16 percent decrease. Why that is so interesting? Penn State, generally speaking never had to travel farther than 2024-25 because of the addition of the four west coast teams.
- Football travel grew by $468K. But it appears the savings came from lumping West Coast trips. For example, both basketball teams spent less in 2024-25. Men’s gymnastics also spent significantly less (roughly $139K less) year over year.
- Penn State spent roughly $221K less on recruiting in 2024-25 at $4.6M. Most of that comes from the fact Penn State football spent $427K less in 2024-25 than 2023-24.
- Penn State wrestling spent nearly $40K more on recruiting to $92K in 2024-25.
- Penn State spent 54 percent less on spirit squads year over year. However, some funding sources have shifted around between various parts of the university.
- Penn State spent $2.5M on hosting the College Football Playoff first-round game against SMU.
- Penn State spent $1.7M on severance in 2024-25. This is likely Mike Yurcich’s contract. And of course, this will be an important number when we do this exercise in 2027 to see what the impact of James Franklin’s firing has truly been.
- Equipment costs fell 84 percent and is one number I will be asking about.
- Lease and facilities debt increased by 40 percent to $24.2M.
- In total, Penn State spent at least $89,186,987 on its football program. This doesn’t include cross-pollination of salaries and other shared resources.
Alright, so in total, Penn State turned a profit of $223,679 in 2024-25. However, the goal is generally in college athletics departments where you are sustaining to be close to a dollar in and a dollar out. That is in part why you can’t extrapolate the number out to see which sports are and aren’t profitable. The profit total has generally fluctuated over the last few years but has generally been in the black at Penn State.
What does that profit look like in terms of Beaver Stadium chicken baskets? 13,314. Or that profit could buy you 17,752 State Lights inside the stadium.
We will spend some more time diving into these specific numbers over the coming weeks.
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