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Utah Athletics had a budget deficit of $17 million, according to the school’s latest financial report.

For financial year 24, which ranges from July 1, 2023 through June 30, 2024, the Utah athletics department reported a $17,041,625 budget shortfall, the first deficit in quite a while.

The university posted record revenue of $115.7 million in FY22 and $126.3 million in FY23, but for FY24, Utah’s revenue shrank to $109.8 million.

In an addendum to the athletic department’s financial report, Utah wrote, “The University of Utah’s FY24 net margin of ($17M), as reported in the annual NCAA Revenues & Expenses Report, was driven primarily by external factors.”

Those external factors were the collapse of the Pac-12 Conference in the summer of 2023.

The collapse of the historic conference started with USC and UCLA leaving for the Big Ten in 2022. Then, the Big 12 beat the Pac-12 to the media rights punch, securing a nearly $2.3 billion media deal with ESPN and Fox that reportedly will pay out $31.6 million per year to each of its schools when it takes effect in 2025.

Pac-12 commissioner George Kliavkof had reportedly turned down a deal from ESPN that would have paid its schools $30 million each, per John Canzano, and after the Big 12’s deal with ESPN and Fox, TV networks were full with inventory from the Big 12, SEC, ACC and Big Ten, and weren’t going to pony up more for the depleted Pac-12 with no Los Angeles TV market.

The best deal the Pac-12 got was a $25 million per school offer from Apple — streaming only — per Canzano. Colorado left for the Big 12, followed by Washington and Oregon bolting to the Big Ten. Utah wasn’t far behind, joining the Big 12.

Oregon State and Washington State, the only two members left in the Pac-12, reached a settlement deal with the departing schools — approximately $5 million per school withheld from revenue distribution and another $1.5 million payment to the conference, per Sportico.

Utah reported a net $6,870,866 loss from conference distributions, which exclude media rights and football bowl revenue. In all, the university made $29,190,481 from the Pac-12 in FY25, which includes conference bowl game payouts and media rights.

Other expenditures that contributed to the deficit were legal fees resulting from the exit from the Pac-12 and overpayment of prior year television distributions, according to Utah (This year, the Pac-12 had to pay a combined $72 million to offset 10 years of Comcast overpayment to the league for the Pac-12 Networks, which meant a smaller distribution for schools.).

All told, Utah says that approximately 70% of the $17 million deficit (which was covered by “carry-forward” athletics reserves from prior years) can be “traced to the breakup of the Pac-12 Conference.” “Travel costs and a significant year-over-year increase in the University’s published cost of attendance were other major contributing and uncontrollable factors,” Utah wrote.

Utah says that “Key revenue performance indicators such as ticket sales, number of donors, and total donations (not all reflected in this report) improved year-over-year.”

While the Utes have been a full-revenue member from the beginning in the Big 12, that won’t be reflected in a public financial report until the FY25 report comes out.

In case you missed it

Ezra Ausar led the way for the Runnin’ Utes as they defeated rival BYU at the Hunstman Center in overtime. Ausar had a career-high 26-points in the victory. On Wednesday, the Utes were crushed by 34 points on the road at Houston.

From the archives

Extra points

• 3 heroes who lifted Utah past BYU in a rivalry thriller (Deseret News)
• 8 players with Utah ties are 1 win away from the Super Bowl (Deseret News)
• A favorable schedule lies ahead. Will Utah women’s basketball recapture its winning ways this week? (Deseret News)