Minneapolis, Minn. — The University of Minnesota reported an institutional record of $163.6M in revenue for athletics in their 2025 financial report. The record revenue is due largely to media rights payments increasing from $51M in FY24 to $63M in FY25. Minnesota saw some declines in ticket sales from $22.7M to $19.6M and declines in contributions from $24.1M to $22.4M, but those drops were offset due to the Big Ten’s increasingly lucrative media rights packages.
Minnesota men’s hockey revenue also hit new heights with $9.7M in revenue for FY25, an increase from $7.8M in FY24. Ticket sales for men’s hockey remained steady at $3.9M and contributions of $1M, but the report indicated $3.1M from Royalties, Licensing, Advertisements and Sponsorships in FY25 which was a big increase from the same budget item’s $1.6M in FY24.
Looking at specific programs budgets for FY25 — football showed a $54M profit, men’s hockey was $2.8M in the black and men’s basketball was revenue positive by $329,476. Women’s basketball had the biggest deficit of any program with $6.6M in expenses and were credited with $1.6M in revenue.
Minnesota’s athletic financial report also noted a record high of $161.2M in expenses for FY25, an increase of 5.66 percent from FY24. The report showed $62.5M paid to coaching and staff as the biggest expense category in FY25, an increase of over seven percent from FY24. Revenue sharing agreements started July 1, 2025, so the effect of those payments won’t be seen until the FY26 report is published, but this year’s report did include $2.2M in payments for Enhanced Educational Benefits (Alston or other) which was a significant increase from the $79,275 paid out in FY24.
Data for financial reports across the country are starting to show up with other media outlets which will allow comparisons between Minnesota and its peer institutions, but looking at Oregon’s latest report shows the importance of being a legacy member of the Big Ten. The Ducks have seen some record revenues historically from significant donor contributions peaking at $298M in 2019 and $125M in 2013, but now they will start to see revenues from joining the Big Ten.
“The biggest difference from a revenue standpoint is in media rights. Oregon received $28.2 million in that category for FY24 in the final year of the Pac-12. That is up to $49.1 million in FY25 — a nearly 74% increase now that the Ducks are in the Big Ten,” according to The Oregonian. “And that is with just a half-share of media rights distributions until 2030, which Oregon and Washington both agreed to when they joined the conference.”
While Oregon and Washington will get a bigger share going forward, the amount of dollars coming from media rights will continue to grow across the Big Ten. Escalators in the contract could allow for schools to expect a payout of around $80M – $100M annually by 2030 when the contract is up for negotiations again.
The other significant item in the Minnesota budget to increase was $11.6M in revenue sharing from the College Football Playoff. Conferences can get revenue as schools earn their bids to the playoff and as they advance. Payouts start at $4 million for each of the 12 teams making the Playoff, $4 million for each of the eight teams advancing to the quarterfinals, $6 million for each of the four teams reaching the semifinals and an extra $6M for the two teams in the championship. The Big Ten earned $20M from Indiana, $14M from Oregon and $8M from Ohio State this year, and last year the conference earned $20M from Ohio State, $14M Penn State, $10M Oregon and $4M Indiana.
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