(C) Iowa Capital Dispatch
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Iowa State University athletics forecasts budget gaps in coming years • Iowa Capital Dispatch [1]
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Date: 2025-07-25
Iowa State University’s athletics budget is feeling the fallout of changes to contracts and other shifts in collegiate sports infrastructure, according to budgets submitted to the Iowa Board of Regents, leading the university to halt capital projects and implement cost reduction strategies.
ISU’s proposed athletic budget for the 2026 fiscal year totals $141 million, exceeding the previous athletic budget by $27 million. According to board documents, “several transformational changes” in collegiate athletics over the past two years have resulted in projected $30 million “recurring annual financial repercussions” to the university’s athletics department, starting this year.
“ISU is engaging with the Big 12 Conference, ISU Foundation, sponsors, donors and other partners to explore additional opportunities to create growth in revenue sufficient to overcome future anticipated revenue shortfalls and to otherwise support the continued success and viability of the ISU Athletics Program,” the document stated. “ISU views this effort as one of the top priorities and challenges facing the university.”
Changes causing the fluctuation in funds include the new allowance for colleges to share revenue dollars with student athletes, the expansion of the Big 12 Conference to 16 teams and shifts in how revenue generated through the College Football Playoff is distributed among conferences, according to the document.
ISU has halted renovations to Hilton Coliseum and construction of a new wrestling practice facility, which would have cost a total of $45 million to complete, in order to help with the budget, the document stated. The university also implemented “cost reduction mandates” among each ISU sport and their support departments and put annual sales tax on sports ticket sales on the consumer — around $1.5 million annually — rather than absorbing it in the budget as an expense. This change is reflected in projected ticket sale revenue increases for fiscal year 2026.
Members of the Cyclone Club, the ISU athletic department’s donation platform and membership program, are also seeing a 20% increase in donation amounts required for membership, according to the document, which is expected to earn an additional $3 million in annual funding.
“Athletics will carefully monitor the impact of this increase on future donations,” the document stated.
While the university stated in the document it found around $8.7 million in annual savings for the athletic department, funding gaps averaging nearly $25 million annually are still projected through fiscal year 2031, when the Big 12 television contract expires. In total, the funding gap until that time comes to $147 million.
The Iowa State University Foundation is providing the athletics department with a one-time, $26.7 million transfer of athletics reserves to balance the fiscal year 2026 budget, the document stated, but those reserve dollars will not make up future gaps in funding.
Other transfers to athletics from the foundation include annual donations from the Cyclone Club, donations made for capital projects and “premium seating contributions,” according to the document.
“Historically, Athletics operated as a self-sufficient operation transferring the funds necessary to cover operating costs in the current fiscal year,” the document stated. “Prior to FY 2025 under the current administration, ISU Athletics had not incurred an operating deficit other than the COVID impacted season, which was absorbed by cash reserves.”
UI, UNI athletics budgets grow
At the University of Iowa, the athletics department’s budget is expected to grow more than 12% from last year and total nearly $170 million, according to the board document, mainly due to $20.5 million allocated for student-athlete revenue sharing.
Men’s and women’s wrestling ticket sales are expected to remain consistent with last year’s numbers, of which men’s wrestling revenues were above budget and women’s wrestling came in under what was expected. Ticket sales revenue for football is expected to increase by more than $3.3 million, putting the budget line at nearly $27.8 million and total income for fiscal year 2026 at close to $170 million.
As the only state university to provide institutional support for athletics programs, the University of Northern Iowa reported in the board document it will budget more than $5.4 million in university funding for athletics in operational support, scholarships and more. While funding for scholarships remained flat, institutional support for operations and supplemental funding both increased.
Women’s sports at UNI are expected to increase over last year, when they sold above what was budgeted. Higher ticket sales for wrestling and other men’s sports are also set to increase, according to the board documents.
UNI’s total athletics budget is projected to grow by more than $1.2 million to just under $16 million.
“Optional revenue sharing with student athletes is not budgeted at UNI for FY 2026,” the document stated.
The Iowa Board of Regents will discuss fiscal year 2026 budgets for each of Iowa’s public universities at its July 30 meeting.
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