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How did Oklahoma Sooners' athletic department fare financially for 2023 fiscal year?
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- How did Oklahoma Sooners' athletic department fare financially for 2023 fiscal year?
NORMAN — OU's athletic department's operating revenues were just more than $300,000 more than its expenses, according to the department's annual athletic revenue and expense summary sent to the NCAA, which was obtained by The Oklahoman .
The report is for the 2023 fiscal year — July 2022 through June 2023.
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After seven consecutive years with a surplus of more than $10 million, the department has posted five consecutive years with an operating surplus below $5.2 million.
OU's athletic department remains one of the few nationally that operates without receiving institutional support or student fees.
There was some indirect institutional support in the 2021 fiscal year — in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic — but otherwise, the program has reported no allocated revenue from the school since 2008.
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OU athletics reported $199M in revenue for 2023 fiscal year
The program's total operating revenues for the fiscal year were $199,295,570.
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Notable revenue items included more than $48 million in ticket sales, $60.7 million in contributions, more than $27.1 million in media rights, and more than $23.4 million in royalties, licensing, advertisement and sponsorships.
The Sooners received nearly $11.8 million in conference distribution of football bowl-generated revenue.
Expenses included nearly $18.9 million in athletic student aid, $35.8 million in coaching salaries and benefits, nearly $11.5 million in team travel and more than $5.6 million in recruiting spending.
After the program's "direct overhead and administrative costs" ballooned in 2022, they grew by more than $4 million last year to $46.3 million. They were $42.1 million in 2022 after being $28.4 million in the 2021 fiscal year.
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Support staff pay continued to grow to $29.3 million after being $24.8 last year.
Operating expenses totaled $198,975,224 after being nearly $176 million in 2022.
Still, the department reported more than $6.5 million in "excess transfer" to the institution, its biggest number ever.
It reported $186.5 million in total athletics-related debt — down more than $5 million from 2022 — with nearly $15 million in "athletically-related facilities annual debt service."
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: OU Sooners' athletic department continues streak of operating surplus
