USC Athletics, who makes the money?
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COLUMBIA, S.C. (WOLO) — Football and basketball are big money makers at the University of South Carolina. “The athletics in South Carolina is one of the few schools in the country that not only does it operate in the black, it give money to the University,” says Eric Hyman, Athletics Director at USC. According to Hyman, the athletic department operates on an 80 million dollar budget. Football is the biggest money maker, bringing in 70-73% of profits. But where does the money go, besides expenses? “Last year we gave about 3.2 million dollars to the University,” says Hyman. What for some may be even more surprising, men’s basketball is the second largest money maker. However, the past few seasons were challenging. “If you’re in this arena and you compete at this level you have some vulnerabilities occasionally and we faced a vulnerability just recently financially with our commitment to our former coach,” says Hyman. But Hyman also looks to make changes. .”Hopefully with a new coach on board, it will recreate interest and people will gravitate back to the basketball program and put us in a much better financial footing than we’ve experienced in the last couple of years,” says Hyman. You may ask, what about women’s basketball? “Women’s basketball is the most expensive sport here,” says Hyman. But here comes the biggest shocker, baseball loses money. “Just the amount of cost for Baseball verses the revenue we bring in, it loses about 1.3 million,” says Hyman. However, according to Hyman it offers a different profit. “Sense of pride, accomplishments, visibility, the people of the state of South Carolina, how they resonate with what the baseball team has done,” says Hyman. It also gives the other sports something to mimic. “Win, continue to win,” says Hyman. Which will help with attendance. “Ticket sales are very important, it helps drive the revenue for athletes,” says Hyman. However, Hyman says win or lose, you can’t leave out the Gamecock Club. “Without them, we couldn’t do what we do today,” says Hyman.
