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Filed athletics finances

Who spends the most on total operating expenses

Every figure is read from the school's own NCAA financial report — the annual filing each Division I athletics department submits to the NCAA. Ranked by reported dollars, not by results.
116Schools ranked
FY2021Fiscal year
$4201.13MCombined total operating expenses
831Reports parsed

All reported athletics operating expenses for the fiscal year.

Rank / schoolReported total operating expensesChange
01

Ohio State

$170.55M · $170,551,920

no prior year
02

Texas

$160.53M · $160,532,668

no prior year
03

Michigan

$148.86M · $148,862,376

no prior year
04

Oklahoma

$143.19M · $143,193,408

−9% YoY
05

Texas A&M

$141.82M · $141,824,256

no prior year
06

South Carolina

$130.36M · $130,364,709

no prior year
07

Georgia

$122.72M · $122,722,893

−12% YoY
08

Kentucky

$120.94M · $120,938,509

no prior year
09

Clemson

$117.41M · $117,413,403

no prior year
10

Missouri

$113.92M · $113,915,145

−4% YoY
11

UCLA

$110.13M · $110,128,961

no prior year
12

Nebraska

$104.09M · $104,087,284

no prior year
13

Indiana

$102.58M · $102,582,541

no prior year
14

North Carolina

$101.92M · $101,916,048

no prior year
15

Arizona

$93.43M · $93,431,241

no prior year
16

Mississippi State

$92.08M · $92,075,898

no prior year
17

Georgia Tech

$86.00M · $85,999,316

no prior year
18

Purdue

$82.28M · $82,282,743

no prior year
19

Maryland

$81.83M · $81,831,650

no prior year
20

Oklahoma State

$78.69M · $78,691,353

no prior year
21

NC State

$78.22M · $78,215,264

no prior year
22

Oregon State

$68.59M · $68,585,989

−11% YoY
23

UNLV

$52.09M · $52,087,692

no prior year
24

East Carolina

$43.33M · $43,329,991

no prior year
25

University of Massachusetts, Amherst

$42.28M · $42,278,738

no prior year
26

University of Hawaii, Manoa

$41.15M · $41,150,162

no prior year
27

Boise State

$40.13M · $40,126,524

−22% YoY
28

Charlotte

$37.73M · $37,727,070

no prior year
29

Fresno State

$36.24M · $36,237,555

no prior year
30

Buffalo

$36.21M · $36,214,285

−2% YoY
31

University of California, Davis

$36.11M · $36,110,452

no prior year
32

Utah State

$36.05M · $36,047,203

no prior year
33

San José State

$35.52M · $35,520,547

no prior year
34

Nevada

$34.80M · $34,799,540

no prior year
35

VCU

$34.75M · $34,754,813

no prior year
36

Texas State

$34.36M · $34,363,246

−2% YoY
37

Stony Brook

$33.23M · $33,230,569

no prior year
38

Florida Atlantic

$32.47M · $32,472,125

−13% YoY
39

Georgia State

$32.06M · $32,064,332

−6% YoY
40

Middle Tennessee

$31.19M · $31,190,904

no prior year
41

Florida International

$28.75M · $28,752,899

no prior year
42

Central Michigan

$27.94M · $27,939,171

−17% YoY
43

Southern Miss

$27.22M · $27,223,468

+6% YoY
44

George Mason University

$27.15M · $27,150,187

no prior year
45

Western Michigan

$26.92M · $26,924,574

−23% YoY
46

Towson

$26.65M · $26,647,426

no prior year
47

Rhode Island

$26.57M · $26,570,969

no prior year
48

Illinois State University

$26.00M · $25,999,650

no prior year
49

New Mexico State

$25.48M · $25,482,825

−11% YoY
50

Eastern Michigan

$24.52M · $24,524,114

no prior year
51

UAlbany

$23.76M · $23,762,035

no prior year
52

Ball State

$23.24M · $23,243,252

no prior year
53

Southern Illinois University at Carbondale

$22.62M · $22,623,484

no prior year
54

Kennesaw State

$22.02M · $22,020,537

−16% YoY
55

North Dakota State

$22.01M · $22,006,716

no prior year
56

Stephen F. Austin State University

$20.27M · $20,271,576

no prior year
57

UC Santa Barbara

$20.23M · $20,228,185

no prior year
58

South Dakota State

$20.00M · $20,003,096

no prior year
59

Maine

$19.91M · $19,907,271

no prior year
60

East Tennessee State

$18.99M · $18,992,512

no prior year
61

South Dakota

$18.52M · $18,519,991

no prior year
62

University of Nebraska Omaha

$18.30M · $18,297,764

no prior year
63

University of Massachusetts Lowell

$18.13M · $18,128,469

no prior year
64

Montana State

$18.07M · $18,067,676

no prior year
65

Montana

$18.07M · $18,065,334

no prior year
66

Sam Houston

$17.52M · $17,515,870

no prior year
67

Eastern Kentucky

$17.48M · $17,482,574

no prior year
68

California State University, Fullerton

$17.44M · $17,435,723

no prior year
69

University of Northern Iowa

$17.43M · $17,434,602

no prior year
70

Idaho

$16.78M · $16,778,231

no prior year
71

The University of North Carolina at

$16.46M · $16,464,097

no prior year
72

NJIT

$16.10M · $16,103,499

no prior year
73

California State University, Northridge

$15.56M · $15,561,829

no prior year
74

Austin Peay State University

$15.39M · $15,393,966

no prior year
75

Indiana State

$15.28M · $15,283,479

no prior year
76

Oakland

$14.93M · $14,926,376

no prior year
77

Western Carolina

$14.73M · $14,729,374

no prior year
78

Florida Gulf Coast University

$14.45M · $14,452,860

−9% YoY
79

Eastern Washington

$13.80M · $13,797,357

no prior year
80

Weber State University

$13.78M · $13,779,769

no prior year
81

North Carolina A&T State University

$13.63M · $13,629,105

−14% YoY
82

California State University, Bakersfield

$13.17M · $13,167,029

no prior year
83

Portland State University

$13.16M · $13,161,368

no prior year
84

University of North Carolina Wilmington

$13.08M · $13,081,407

no prior year
85

Idaho State

$12.20M · $12,201,917

−10% YoY
86

North Carolina Central

$12.09M · $12,086,607

no prior year
87

North Alabama

$12.00M · $11,997,675

no prior year
88

University of Missouri-Kansas City

$10.39M · $10,385,035

no prior year
89

Michigan Tech

$10.03M · $10,033,894

no prior year
90

University of Central Missouri

$9.81M · $9,806,741

no prior year
91

University of West Florida

$9.66M · $9,657,112

no prior year
92

Southern Illinois University Edwardsville

$9.16M · $9,164,617

no prior year
93

Morehead State

$9.14M · $9,136,480

no prior year
94

UNC Asheville

$8.01M · $8,014,170

no prior year
95

University of Wisconsin-Green Bay

$7.72M · $7,720,276

no prior year
96

South Carolina State University

$7.46M · $7,455,211

no prior year
97

Nebraska-Kearney

$7.37M · $7,370,948

no prior year
98

Angelo State

$6.84M · $6,844,158

no prior year
99

Midwestern State University

$6.12M · $6,121,489

no prior year
100

Central Washington

$5.96M · $5,959,539

no prior year
101

West Liberty University

$5.71M · $5,707,982

no prior year
102

University of Colorado, Colorado Springs

$5.68M · $5,676,513

no prior year
103

University of North Georgia

$5.62M · $5,621,687

no prior year
104

Emporia State University

$5.59M · $5,589,099

no prior year
105

Fort Lewis College

$5.50M · $5,502,612

no prior year
106

Eastern New Mexico University

$5.42M · $5,420,337

no prior year
107

University of Missouri–St. Louis

$5.26M · $5,262,661

no prior year
108

New Mexico

$5.06M · $5,064,275

no prior year
109

Black Hills State University

$4.96M · $4,955,549

no prior year
110

Montana State University Billings

$4.76M · $4,759,737

no prior year
111

Southeastern Oklahoma State

$4.58M · $4,580,731

no prior year
112

Cameron University

$3.89M · $3,889,551

no prior year
113

University of Minnesota, Crookston

$3.82M · $3,820,084

no prior year
114

University of Maryland Eastern Shore

$3.75M · $3,750,426

no prior year
115

Georgia College

$3.66M · $3,662,732

no prior year
116

Albany State University (Georgia)

$2.52M · $2,523,407

no prior year
How to read these rankings

These figures come from filed NCAA financial reports collected in our document corpus and parsed from the report text. 831 reports parsed cleanly; 56 could not be read and are absent from these rankings, so a school missing from a year has not necessarily reported nothing.

Football and basketball views come from the report's per-sport allocation tables. They cover recruiting and team travel, not aviation alone: commercial airfare, buses, hotels, meals, and other eligible costs share the same lines. A school can also leave some expenses unallocated.

Private universities have no public-disclosure obligation and generally do not appear. Fiscal years are not uniform — most close June 30, but some schools close on a different date, so a single “FY” column compares slightly different periods. Schools also categorize inconsistently between reports, so treat cross-school gaps of a few percent as noise rather than signal.