release: https://gopsusports.com/news/2021/5/28/athletics-remains-self-supporting.aspx
(May 28, 2021)
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Penn State Intercollegiate Athletics recently filed its 2019-20 NCAA Annual Financial Report, which showed it remains a self-supporting unit, while providing an unmatched student-athlete experience.
Despite the wide-ranging financial impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic during 2019-20, including the cancellation of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament and all spring sport seasons, Penn State was able to reflect a moderate increase in revenue in fiscal year (FY) 2020 as compared to FY 2019.
Penn State Athletics was able to implement cost-control measures once the COVID-19 shutdown was implemented, to see a fairly significant decrease in expenses from FY 2019, in large part due to the cancellation of the spring sport seasons and the moratorium on recruiting. The cost containment generated in FY 2020, as well as cost-control measures instituted as the pandemic continued to disrupt normal ICA activity, will assist in minimizing Penn State’s currently anticipated revenue shortfall in FY 2021.
During FY 2020, Penn State Athletics generated $165,077,390 in net revenues against $157,908,311 in total expenses to finish the year with a positive balance of approximately $7.17 million.
“In unprecedented times, Penn State Athletics continues to be a strong, self-supporting unit,” said Vice President for Intercollegiate Athletics Sandy Barbour. “We saw modest gains in revenues, despite unanticipated revenue losses due to the cancellation of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament. We were able to implement cost-control measures in FY 2020 to assist us in minimizing our anticipated revenue shortfall in FY 2021. We remain vigilant in our expense management, while creating conditions for success for our students and achieving comprehensive excellence throughout ICA.”
Penn State Intercollegiate Athletics does not receive any funding from The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania or its taxpayers, nor any student fees or financial support directly allocated by central administration.
Penn State fields one of the nation’s most comprehensive and successful athletic programs, sponsoring 31 intercollegiate varsity programs (16 men’s and 15 women’s) that are fully funded at the NCAA maximum scholarship levels.
Penn State Among the Nation’s Most Comprehensive and Successful Athletic Programs
Under the leadership of Vice President for Intercollegiate Athletics Sandy Barbour, Penn State has one of the nation’s most comprehensive and successful athletic programs, featuring 800 student-athletes across 31 varsity programs (16 men’s, 15 women’s). The Nittany Lions’ 31 programs are tied for the fourth-highest number of sports sponsored by a Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) institution.
Penn State student-athletes have led the athletic department to 47 Big Ten championships and 11 NCAA National Championships in the last 10 years. The Nittany Lions have finished in the top 15 of the Learfield IMG College Director’s Cup 19 times in the last 26 years (the Director’s Cup was not awarded in 2019-20).
Record-Breaking NCAA Graduation Success Rate
The 2020 NCAA’s annual graduation rates study of institutions across the nation revealed Penn State student-athletes at the University Park campus earned a Graduation Success Rate (GSR) of 92 percent to break the school’s all-time record of 91, which was previously set in the 2019 NCAA report. Nittany Lion students posted a 92 percent graduation rate compared to the 88 percent average for all Division I institutions for students entering from 2010-11 through the 2013-14 academic year.
Penn State student-athletes have logged a Graduation Success Rate in the 88-92 percent range during each of the past 14 NCAA reports, improving from 88 percent in the 2015 report to a record-breaking 92 percent report in 2020. Nine Nittany Lion programs earned 100 percent graduation rates and 16 programs were above the national average for their sport.
We are…Penn State!!
COURTESY PENN STATE ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS
