Iowa State athletics posts record revenues in latest financial filings
Iowa State University athletics’ financial climb out of the hole created by the COVID-19 pandemic continued with modest revenue growth for Fiscal Year 2023.
The Cyclone athletic saw revenues increase by 3.9 percent to a record $115.6 million, according to the department’s NCAA financial reporting documentation.
Iowa State saw a marked increase in contributions from the previous year, with donations tallying $29.1 million in this past fiscal year, which ran July 1, 2022 through June 31, 2023. The Cyclones brought in $22.2 million in contributions in FY2022.
More: Iowa State University athletics department reports record revenue
Nearly a third of all Iowa State’s revenue came from media rights, conference and NCAA distributions.
The Cyclones saw $24.8 million come in via its media rights, with another $15.7 million coming from conference football bowl distributions. Another $6.2 million came in NCAA and conference distributions.
Iowa State generated $21.7 million in ticket sales.
Football was unsurprisingly the overwhelming driver of revenue with $53.2 million generated by the sport. That was down approximately $2 million from the year prior, though that largely represents the failure to make a bowl game in 2022. Iowa State generated about $2 million from the Cheez-It Bowl in 2021, but went 4-6 and did not make a bowl in 2022.
A bowl game, though, isn’t much of a determinant to the overall bottom line as Iowa State spent about $2 million on its bowl game participation in 2021.
More: Mailbag: What to expect from Iowa State football in 2024 following an encouraging season
The Iowa State football program generated a surplus of $25.5 million, with $27.8 million in expenditures.
The Cyclone men’s basketball program generated a surplus of approximately $7.8 million, with $16.1 million in revenue and $8.4 million in costs.
The women’s basketball program generated $881,000, women’s track and field and cross country $702,000 and wrestling $330,000.
Iowa State spent $10.2 million on football coaching salaries, $3.3 for men’s basketball and $1.7 for women’s basketball.
Overall, Iowa State sold $21.7 million worth of tickets for the year. Football led the way with $16.2 million, with men’s basketball adding $4.5 million and women’s basketball $611,000.
Travis Hines covers Iowa State University sports for the Des Moines Register and Ames Tribune. Contact him at thines@amestrib.com or (515) 284-8000. Follow him on X at @TravisHines21.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Iowa State football posts $25 million surplus
