I should have paid more attention in my college economics classes. Fortunately, Dispatch MSU athletics reporter Jake McMahon did.
Regular Dispatch readers have likely noticed an increased focus on the financial side of MSU athletics in our sports section. We’ve reviewed MSU’s FY 2025 expenditures and taken deep dives into coaching contracts and incentives. But there’s still so much we don’t know. The university – like virtually every other football-playing higher-ed institution – won’t publish its revenue sharing breakdown or player contracts. Third-party NIL remains an impossible nut to crack.
You may ask, “Why should I care? Stick to sports.” Well, in case you’ve just awoken from a decade-long slumber, college sports, particularly football, are now, more than ever, big business.
In FY 2025, MSU spent more than $168 million on athletics. And while that seems like (and most definitely is) a lot, it pales in comparison to the cash flowing through other SEC schools. Texas, which bleeds both burnt orange and green, spent more than $300 million on athletics, while the conference’s original UT spent north of $288 million. In fact, only five SEC member schools spent less than $200 million on athletics – Missouri, Kentucky, Arkansas, Ole Miss and the aforementioned Bulldogs from Starkville.
To put that in context, the city of Starkville, with its 300-plus employees and more than 25,000 residents, had total expenditures just north of $27 million in FY 2025. Imagine if The Dispatch never reported on how the city collected and spent its money. You’d consider it a dereliction of duty.
Shouldn’t the same be true for MSU athletics? I get it – it’s not all public money, as the athletic department brings in millions in private donations and corporate sponsorships. But there is taxpayer money involved. Head football coach Jeff Lebby earns $800,000 from the state’s coffers; Chris Jans, Brian O’Connor and Sam Purcell will each pull more than $700,000 in FY 2026, putting them on the shortlist of the state’s highest paid employees. Coaches, like CEOs and presidents, have always been overvalued because there is a certain cache (and bag of cash) that comes with holding the top job. Big-time programs have all decided they’re competing with themselves when it comes to coaching salaries, and no one wants to be the first to pump the brakes.
A word on those private donations. It’s true that significant portions of MSU athletics’ budget comes from fans like you; almost $60 million, in fact. But, I believe charitable donations can be a zero-sum game. You’ll never convince me that eager athletics’ donors wouldn’t instead donate to the library or another academic entity if they saw that as a preferable option. I get it, it’s hard to cheer on a student who’s quietly completing independent research, plus, they don’t sell beer in Mitchell Memorial Library.
Nick Saban once famously described athletics as the front porch of the university. And while I agree with the sentiment – athletic success breeds exposure, interest and, believe it or not, enrollment, the applicability of that metaphor ends there. Mississippi State’s general operating budget was just under $500 million in FY 2025. I’d ask Mr. Saban who in the heck spends 33% of the costs to build a house on just the front porch? What’s in your kitchen, a two-burner Coleman stove and a water hose?
For the record, I’m not saying all of this newfound money is bad or even wrong. Players have long been undervalued in the college sports machine – they earned the revenue but never (legally) saw any of it. But secrets fester in the dark, and transparency brings accountability. In football, we’re privy to depth charts but not salaries. I like hearing from Jeff Lebby, and fans benefit from knowing what’s on his mind. But let’s also hear from MSU’s football general manager, Mark Votteler. Don’t you want to know how much the third-string QB makes? Well, if you, like so many others, are struggling to make ends meet, maybe you don’t.
Philip Poe is The Dispatch’s sports editor.
Philip Poe is sports editor.
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