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How Clemson football profit dropping $14M continued athletics' downward trend in 2025
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- How Clemson football profit dropping $14M continued athletics' downward trend in 2025
CLEMSON — Clemson athletics profit dropped by about $11 million in fiscal year 2025, according to documents obtained by The Greenville News .
In Clemson's latest NCAA financial report, the school made $893,714 after having a total operating revenue of $198.6 million and total operating expenses of $197.7 million during the fiscal year starting July 1, 2024, and ending June 30, 2025.
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Clemson's profit in 2025 is down from when the school made $12 million in fiscal year 2024. It continued a two-year trend of Clemson's profits decreasing. From fiscal years 2022 to 2023, the school's profits rose from $14.9 million to $21.7 million but have declined since.
The biggest chunks of Clemson's revenue in fiscal year 2025 were contributions ($56 million), ticket sales ($39.1 million) and media rights ($31.3 million).
The school's largest expenses were coaching salaries, benefits and bonuses ($40.4 million), support staff/administrative compensation, benefits and bonuses ($37.4 million) and athletic student aid ($22 million).
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Here are other takeaways from the NCAA report.
Dabo Swinney, Clemson football profit drops by $14 million
Coach Dabo Swinney and Clemson football went 10-4 in 2024 to make the ACC championship and return to the College Football Playoff for the first time in three years.
This helped the football program make $5.8 million profit, but that is nearly a $14 million decrease from fiscal year 2024, according to the report. In 2025, Clemson football brought in $88.7 million, a 1.7% increase from last year, but had $83 million in expenditures, a 22.4% increase.
MORE: Steve Spurrier's warning for Dabo Swinney on tampering allegations: 'There ain't no rules'
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A reason for the rise in expenses came from Clemson making the postseason and having success there. Clemson coaches' salaries, benefits and bonuses increased nearly $4 million after the Tigers won the conference title game and made the CFP. This also led to salary raises .
Clemson didn't lose money thanks to $5 million in guarantees the school received after facing Georgia in the Aflac Kickoff Game in Atlanta on Aug. 31, 2024.
Clemson also made $7 million in postseason football expense reimbursements, an over $5 million increase from 2024.
Clemson baseball among sports that combined to lose nearly $14 million
Clemson sports outside of football, men's basketball and women's basketball also lost nearly $14 million. These sports' revenue dipped from $21.6 million in 2024 to $13.1 million in 2025.
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MORE: Clemson baseball's Ariston Veasey will miss at least 3 games after arrest, Erik Bakich says
A major reason was a decrease in contributions to other sports. Clemson received only $1 million in contributions in 2025 after getting $9.5 million the year prior.
Expenses increased, too, from $40.5 million to $45.6 million. Clemson had pay $4.08 million "enhanced educational benefits," from the NCAA vs. Alston court case and similar ones that ruled the NCAA's restrictions on education-related benefits for college athletes violated antitrust law. Clemson sports outside of football and basketball were responsible for $3 million of the $4.08 million.
Where Clemson doubled profit in 2025
Clemson's "non-program specific" category made $35.9 million, an increase from $16.9 million in 2024. That refers to financial data that covers the entire athletic department.
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In this section, Clemson's revenue increased from $72.4 million in 2024 to $85.6 million in 2025. The boosts came from contributions ($48.2 million to $54.3 million), direct institutional support ($6.6 million to $13 million), media rights ($0 to $1 million) and conference distributions (non media and non football bowl) ($0 to $1.7 million).
Expenses also decreased from $55.5 million to $49.7 million. A major reason was the dip in fund raising, marketing and promotion, dropping from $5.5 million in 2024 to $1.9 million.
Clemson's earnings, spendings are highest ever
Clemson has embraced how expensive the new college sports landscape is. In 2018, Clemson made $133.8 million and spent $131.9 million. Its earnings are up 48.4% and its expenses 49.9% in fiscal year 2025 to set new highs.
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Clemson first saw massive jumps from fiscal years 2022 to 2023. It made $158.2 million and spent $143.3 million in 2022. Those numbers increased to $195.5 million (revenue) and $174.2 million (expenses) the following year.
Two fiscal years later, Clemson has exceeded both totals and rank among the top programs in the country .
Derrian Carter covers Clemson athletics for The Greenville News and the USA TODAY Network. Email him at DCarter@usatodayco.com and follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @DerrianCarter00
This article originally appeared on Greenville News: Clemson football profit drops $14 million in fiscal 2025
