OXFORD – The Ole Miss athletics department reported a deficit of $7,714,598 for fiscal year 2024, according to the school’s annual NCAA membership financial report obtained by the Daily Journal.
Ole Miss’ total operating revenue for 2024 was $149,304,681, while its operating expenses totaled $157,019,279. The Rebels football program made money, bringing in $18,138,105 for the year, with $75,260,701 in revenue and $57,122,596 in operating expenses. Baseball also ended the year in the green with a surplus of $1,061,644 ($10,186,379 in revenue, $9,124,735 in expenses). Both Rebel basketball programs had deficits, with the men’s program at a $1,355,404 deficit ($13,745,705 revenue, $15,101,109 expenses) and the women’s program at a $7,548,655 deficit ($795,299 revenue, $8,343,954 expenses).
Ole Miss sponsors 18 varsity teams – eight men’s and 10 women’s.
“I think for us, we’re obviously trying to be very competitive in this space. When we have to go against our peers that have budgets sometimes $100 or $150 million more than ours, we have to get creative,” Ole Miss athletics director Keith Carter told the Daily Journal. “We’ve chosen to spend a little more in certain places, and I think that’s been good for us. But obviously, we have to be fiscally responsible. That’s something that we have to do, and we’re expected to do. And I feel like we’ve done that. Just because we show a deficit there in that report doesn’t mean that we don’t have the funds to plug those holes in other ways.
“ … We know that, obviously, currently and for sure in the future as we have to plug in even bigger numbers from a rev share perspective, this is going to be a challenge for us. But we’re up for that challenge and we’re ready to get after it.”
Ole Miss brought in a total of $43,108,152 through its media rights deal, $10,663,942 in conference distributed bowl generated revenue and another $38,042,621 in contributions. The Rebels’ football program brought in $17,912,805 in ticket sales for 2024; baseball made $2,469,296, men’s basketball $1,897,387 and women’s basketball $184,267.
“I think the issue that we run into at Ole Miss is that we’re just limited in space. When you look at our stadium and we’re 65,000 – and we love it, and it’s great, and when you sell it out, that’s obviously what you want to do – but when you’re going up against Tennessee and (Texas) A&M and Texas and Georgia and Alabama that are well above 90 and into the hundreds (thousand), that just creates a math problem, too, that they have an opportunity to generate more revenue.
“So, we’re looking at ways to potentially grow our stadiums and adding premium areas in basketball, doing creative things where we can grow ticket and donation revenue. But overall, as far as just the folks stepping up and our fans stepping up, I think that’s been really encouraging.”
Coaching salaries, benefits and bonuses paid by the university and related entities totaled $34,891,690 over all sports, with football’s totaling $18,599,133; head coach Lane Kiffin made a total of $10,036,101. Head men’s basketball coach Chris Beard totaled $3,942,008, women’s basketball coach Yolett McPhee-McCuin $1,364,398 and head baseball coach Mike Bianco $1,918,095. Support staff and administration compensation totaled $27,425,284.
“It’s kind of where the market is right now,” Carter said. “And I do think some of the conversation around rev share and what we’re going to do for the student-athletes could open up the conversation of, where does coaching compensation go from here? And I think those are healthy conversations. I believe in a free market and capitalism, and you should be able to earn what you can in the industry that you choose if you work hard enough. But, at the same time, with just some of the ancillary conversations around college athletics right now, the coaching contracts and that compensation is certainly going to come up.”
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