- Nov 25, 2016
- 1,181
- 2,133
In my opinion, there is no entity or organization that could not do more if given additional funds. I would be willing to bet that McElwain is lobbying for additional spending. Facilities upgrades are in the works, but additional support staff could be a difference maker.
It's hard to nail down budgets as each institution does the accounting slightly differently. There are several line items that are used by multiple or even all sports. Examples are compliance & sports administration, human resources, utilities, insurance, general administration, maintenance, information technology...the list goes on and on. These costs can add up well into the millions. Each school has a different method of appropriating these to individual sports budgets or may not assign them to any sport.
Having said that, here are the reported 2015 (most recent year data is available) football budgets of Florida and a few of our rivals. I added line items that are probably mostly related to football due to the large number of athletes participating in the sport.
Expenses
LSU $30,463,660
Florida $32,048,390
FSU $42,457,103
Alabama $56,214,376
Operating Expenses
LSU $3,990,545
FSU $6,595,397
Alabama $7,222,432
Florida $8,606,930
Student Aid - All Men's Sports
FSU $5,408,965
Florida $5,727,309
Alabama $7,309,795
LSU $7,972,308
Recruiting Expenses - All Men's Sports
FSU $1,069,374
LSU $1,367,641
Florida $1,401,267
Alabama $2,227,636
Not Allocated by Gender/Sport
FSU $23,954,904
Florida $33,747,361
Alabama $35,259,271
LSU $39,430,913
The first category titled expenses definitively shows that Alabama massively outspends everyone else. Florida spends more than LSU, but less than FSU.
If we add up all of the categories, then we are capturing some expenses from other men's sports. However, the majority of the expenses are football related simply because football has so many more athletes and personnel than all the other men's sports. Adding in these expenses may show a more accurate picture of the true expenses of the football programs. With this data I added a few national programs for comparison.
Oregon $47,673,797
Texas $66,460,286
Georgia $75,109,513
Southern Cal $77,486,939
FSU $79,485,743
Florida $81,531,257
LSU $83,225,067
Michigan $83,435,231
Clemson $84,914,878
Alabama $112,405,152
Ohio State $113,212,362
Yes, I did double check the Oregon and Texas numbers, I am as shocked as you are.
Alabama and Ohio State are massively outspending everyone else. The data also shows that Florida, FSU and LSU are spending very similar amounts. The difference between FSU and LSU is less than 4.5%. Florida is at the high range of schools not named Alabama or Ohio State.
The difference between the Gators budget and FSU or Michigan's budget is fairly insignificant. However, Saban and Meyer have a huge advantage over everyone else.
It's hard to nail down budgets as each institution does the accounting slightly differently. There are several line items that are used by multiple or even all sports. Examples are compliance & sports administration, human resources, utilities, insurance, general administration, maintenance, information technology...the list goes on and on. These costs can add up well into the millions. Each school has a different method of appropriating these to individual sports budgets or may not assign them to any sport.
Having said that, here are the reported 2015 (most recent year data is available) football budgets of Florida and a few of our rivals. I added line items that are probably mostly related to football due to the large number of athletes participating in the sport.
Expenses
LSU $30,463,660
Florida $32,048,390
FSU $42,457,103
Alabama $56,214,376
Operating Expenses
LSU $3,990,545
FSU $6,595,397
Alabama $7,222,432
Florida $8,606,930
Student Aid - All Men's Sports
FSU $5,408,965
Florida $5,727,309
Alabama $7,309,795
LSU $7,972,308
Recruiting Expenses - All Men's Sports
FSU $1,069,374
LSU $1,367,641
Florida $1,401,267
Alabama $2,227,636
Not Allocated by Gender/Sport
FSU $23,954,904
Florida $33,747,361
Alabama $35,259,271
LSU $39,430,913
The first category titled expenses definitively shows that Alabama massively outspends everyone else. Florida spends more than LSU, but less than FSU.
If we add up all of the categories, then we are capturing some expenses from other men's sports. However, the majority of the expenses are football related simply because football has so many more athletes and personnel than all the other men's sports. Adding in these expenses may show a more accurate picture of the true expenses of the football programs. With this data I added a few national programs for comparison.
Oregon $47,673,797
Texas $66,460,286
Georgia $75,109,513
Southern Cal $77,486,939
FSU $79,485,743
Florida $81,531,257
LSU $83,225,067
Michigan $83,435,231
Clemson $84,914,878
Alabama $112,405,152
Ohio State $113,212,362
Yes, I did double check the Oregon and Texas numbers, I am as shocked as you are.
Alabama and Ohio State are massively outspending everyone else. The data also shows that Florida, FSU and LSU are spending very similar amounts. The difference between FSU and LSU is less than 4.5%. Florida is at the high range of schools not named Alabama or Ohio State.
The difference between the Gators budget and FSU or Michigan's budget is fairly insignificant. However, Saban and Meyer have a huge advantage over everyone else.
Last edited:
