The Texas athletic department this week reported that the school's move to the Southeastern Conference resulted in a $23.3 million loss, an outcome the administration says was expected.
The Longhorns reported nearly $376 million in expenses for fiscal 2025, breaking their own record for spending by a single institution.
Texas CFO Rob Novak said the athletic department concluded the year with a deficit because it did not receive a full share of revenue from the SEC.
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According to the Austin American-Statesman, Novak said the league's other 14 schools received a distribution of $60.1 million this year, while UT and Oklahoma got $12.5 million from the conference.
Texas and Oklahoma are now positioned to receive their full payout from the SEC in 2026, which will be a slice of the reported $3 billion, 10-year contract the conference inked with ESPN.
“It’s not Whack-A-Mole to balance a budget,” Novak said. “It’s, ‘What does this look like long-term? If we agree to do this today, can we sustain it? And if we can, what does that mean for revenue? Are the donors going to keep investing through donations? Is there going to be a market to increase ticket prices?’
Between capital projects and other expenses — the Longhorns are currently renovating Royal-Memorial Stadium — the Longhorns shelled out approximately $167 million in fiscal year 2025.
“We have a bunch of really big capital projects,” Novak said. “And so it’ll continue to look like this for the next five or six years while we pay off all those big projects.”
The Longhorns made roughly $10 million more in ticket revenue this cycle compared to last, a change Novak attributes to home football games against SEC brands like Georgia and Florida.
