Audit Report Shows LSU Football Well in the Black

This report from The Advocate details some reports from LSU athletics and the Tiger Athletic Foundation on the 2015-2016 academic year, via an audit conducted by the state Legislative Auditor and an NCAA financial report.

Tigers football made $85 million in the 2015-16 academic year, turning a profit of more than $55 million. That’s according to two documents obtained by The Advocate: an audit of the athletic department released by the Louisiana Legislative Auditor and an NCAA financial report the school released.

The Tigers Athletic Foundation, a nonprofit corporation supporting LSU athletics, contributed more than $8 million to the athletic department for operating expenses in 2015-16, down $6 million from 2014-15. However, TAF gave another $14 million for LSU’s new tennis complex.

The high points focus on a few things that seem fairly easy to figure out — football, men’s basketball and baseball remain the only three sports to turn a profit, with the $55-million-plus from football largely floating most of the entire enterprise.

A few graphics...

Other notes of interest — LSU lost money on the Texas Bowl trip. Not a huge surprise, given that bowl payouts are pooled by the SEC and are not based on the individual bowl matchup; revenues for gymnastics remain incredibly low, and I’ll be interested to see if how much the current season raises that figure; and those severance and recruiting figures should also spike, given the departure of Les Miles, Cam Cameron, Dameyune Craig, etc...