re: Most recently published LSU sports financials

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My understanding is men’s basketball makes money not so much from attendance but from lucrative TV contracts.

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The Men's March Madness contract with CBS pays the NCAA $1 billion annually while, The Women's March Madness contract with ESPN is valued at $65 million per year. That's why their is such a difference in revenue paid to each program.

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On another note how did football double their revenue from 2023 to 2024?

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SEC/ESPN TV deal when the Mouse outbid CBS for SEC football games.

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No, that’s not the reason. The ESPN contract started in the 2024-2025 season, which would have actually been part of FY25 (not FY24). On top of that, the added distribution from the new ESPN contract is nowhere near the $50m per school that would be needed in order for it to explain the revenue jump. It’s more like $15m per school.

The actual answer is that LSU changed their financial reporting format in FY24. Several lines that were previously reported under “administration” (including “net revenue-related activities” and “SEC distribution”) are now reported under the actual team sports. So while “team sports” revenue increased by about $63m, the “administration” revenue decreased by about $75m.

This is now more in-line with the breakout that’s shown in the annual LLA audit, though there’s still a slight discrepancy (LLA audit for FY24 shows about $7.3M more football revenue than the LSU financial statement).

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Athletic administration $ 35,934,533

If you go look at their numbers historically, it was never above $6 figures until 2021. How is the athletic admin generating $36 million in revenue?

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Most likely has something to do with how certain TAF contributions get reported.

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Sports productions $23,916,660

This number is also bullshite, creative accounting to funnel money from the university into the athletic department to make it look close to break even

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That line was labeled “electronic media” until 2024. It’s been on LSU’s financial reports every year they’ve been available online. You think LSU is covering up transfers of $20+ million from the university every year?

frick off, troll.

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Please explain the jump from sub $300k revenue for admin.

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I already did:

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Most likely has something to do with how certain TAF contributions get reported.

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To take it a step further, I checked the LLA audit for the FY22 NCAA financial report. Sure enough, it includes the following note:

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LSU received a $25 million donation from TAF to the operating budget in fiscal year 2022. This was the first year a contribution of this type was recorded.

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From FY21 to FY22, “athletics administration” revenue increased by *checks notes* $25 million.

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If you cross reference the numbers in this report with those reported here, the inconsistencies become blatant

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Oh, so we should pay attention to the annual NCAA member financial report (which you linked) that very clearly shows $0 in direct state or other government support, $0 in student fees, $0 in direct institutional support, and $0 in indirect institutional support?

As for discrepancies - well yeah, they’re different reports. One is the annual NCAA member institution financial report while the other is the athletics auxiliary statement to the larger Louisiana State University annual financial report. The NCAA has specific, standardized rules for financial reporting that may or may not exactly align with each university’s reporting practices. So you get two different formats/reports.

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It's literally done right here via deferred revenue

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The hell are you talking about? LSU reports deferred revenue every year. The fiscal year ends in June. At that point season ticket fees have been paid, but football/basketball seasons haven’t even started yet. That revenue is deferred to be recognized later, once the games are played.

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How can we justify losing $8M on women’s BB?

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Because Kim and national championships are worth way more to the university from an exposure perspective, even if it can't be quantified!

Also, to me it's worth several million just seeing that racist b*tch in South Carolina angry all the time!