Low Pac-12 Net revenues contribute to Wash. St. athletic deficit
Washington State's athletic department was not profitable in 2015.
According to the Seattle Times, the Cougars' athletic department had a deficit of over $13 million for the second year in a row.
A big culprit for the size of the deficit? Revenues from the Pac-12 Network have not been as high as schools originally anticipated. From the Times:
The Cougars also took in significantly less in Pac-12 Networks distribution revenue — $1.4 million – than they had hoped. WSU originally had projected the Pac-12 Networks’ distribution revenue at around $5 million or $6 million per school.
“We were being optimistic trying to compare it to the Big Ten Network, even though their footprint is significantly larger, because we own 100 percent of ours and they own 49 percent of their network,” [WSU athletic director Bill] Moos said in a conference call with reporters Tuesday. “They grew very fast, to almost $10 million per school. We were looking conservatively, by now, being at about $5 or $6 million. We thought that was fairly realistic.”
Pac-12 Network still doesn't have widespread distribution. The network is not on Directv even though the Longhorn Network (operated by ESPN) has secured a distribution deal with the satellite company.
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According to a November Sports Business Journal story, Pac-12 Network was available in approximately 12 million homes; 20 percent of the distribution that the Big Ten and SEC Networks enjoyed. Teams from the Big Ten and SEC got over $7 million each from their conference's network.
WSU's deficit decreased from about $13.7 million to $13.2 million for the 2015 fiscal year. Moos said the school had the second-lowest budget in the conference and spent $12 million less than the conference average. Per USA Today's finance figures, Washington State had expenses of over $68 million in the 2014 fiscal year and had revenues of over $54 million.
The school behind WSU in the expense column was Utah. The Utes had approximately $50.5 million in expenses and over $56 million in revenue.
Washington State's football team went 9-4 in 2015 and beat Miami in the Sun Bowl. It was the first time WSU had finished above .500 (let alone won nine games or more) since 2003.
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Nick Bromberg is the assistant editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
