FSU Athletics has $8 million in net revenue for 2021 fiscal year

 

Despite the coronavirus pandemic, the #FSU athletic department's total revenue grew slightly for the 2021 fiscal year.

FSU reported a net revenue of nearly $8 million on its 2021 report, although that number doesn't tell the full story.https://t.co/n8KBC7KICW

— Curt Weiler (@CurtMWeiler) February 23, 2022

Florida State athletic department reports $8 million in net revenue for 2021 fiscal year

For instance, the entirety of the $19.145 million buyout for former head coach Willie Taggart and his staff was reported in full on the 2020 report but is being paid out gradually through 2023.

A  look inside the numbers does tell the story of how FSU actually made more in revenue during the COVID-affected 2020-21 academic year.

FSU reported $129,743,001 in revenue for the 2021 fiscal year after reporting $129,481,351 on the 2020 report.

Obviously, ticket sales were down in 2021. COVID restrictions limited crowds at all events and FSU had just $4,768,147 in ticket sales on this year's report after bringing in $17,341,676 during the 2019-20 season.

Football led the way here, accounting for over $3.5 million (74%) of these ticket sales. But that's down from the 87.8% that football accounted for on the 2020 report.

While men's and women's basketball both saw their ticket sale numbers fall on this year's report, the other sports category actually went up from $309,807 in 2020 to $327,239 in 2021.

Ticket sales may have been understandably down on this year's report, but the athletic department made up the discrepancy in a few other areas.

For one, FSU reported an increase of over $6 million in contributions on its 2021 report. FSU's $43,261,756 in contributions, up from $36,758,342 the year prior, is the second-largest contribution number for FSU on record, trailing only the $55.89 million it reported in 2018.

That timeline for increased contributions aligns with Michael Alford taking over as Seminole Boosters President/CEO, which he did in September of 2020. Alford was promoted to FSU Director of Athletics in December and started the position in January.

FSU also saw its media rights revenue increase significantly from $22,693,941 in 2020 to $25,988,738. That number should continue to increase with Comcast at long last carrying the ACC Network. 

The final notable increase saw FSU make over two million more in royalties, licensing, advertisements and sponsorships, up to $17,751,098 from $15,403,795.

All of these boosts help FSU maintain its level of revenue despite a severe drop-off in ticket sales.

On the other side, FSU's expenses fell precipitously in its 2021 report. The athletic department reported $121,923,106 on this year's report, down over $30 million from the $155,656,855 it reported in 2020.

Of course, it helps that more than $19 million in severances were not on this year's report. But even removing that from the equation, FSU's expenses dropped about $15 million from the 2020 fiscal year.

Pay cuts taken by coaches that were brought about by the pandemic dropped the coaching salaries number from $25,481,505 to $20,122,052.

Another notable drop in expenses came in the direct overhead and administrative expenses category. After spending over $19.9 million here in the 2020 fiscal year, FSU dropped that number to $14,227,132 on its 2021 report.

There was also far less money spent on guarantees for other schools, only $504,343 in 2021 after $3,163,301 was spent on that in 2020.

Due to the pandemic, costs for team travel and recruiting were also down by a significant margin.

With in-person recruiting shut down for almost the entire fiscal year, FSU spent just $286, 103 on recruiting after spending $1,832,367 in 2020. Team travel fell from over $6.6 million in 2020 to $5,343,949 in 2021.

The severe reduction in severance payments also helped with the drop-off in expenses. After reporting over $19 million in severance payments in 2020, FSU reported just $216,911 in severance payments on its 2021 report, a factor of the positions eliminated during the pandemic.

However, Taggart is still being paid annual buyout payments through 2023. Just because it isn't reflected on this year's report doesn't mean it's not a lingering hit to the athletic department.