Rutgers Lost $517M on Athletics, Explaining Historic Record Loss Since Joining Big Ten

Being in a power conference isn't always all it's cracked up to be.

NJ Advance Media's Keith Sargeant reported Tuesday that the Rutgers athletic department had a deficit of $78 million for the 2024-25 academic year. Since becoming a Big Ten school in 2014-15, the department has a total deficit of $516.9 million.

There's no question it's financially advantageous to be in the Big Ten. Steve Berkowitz of USA Today reported in May 2024 that Rutgers received around $58.9 million from the conference. That was thanks to a massive seven-year, $7 billion media rights deal that went into effect in 2023.

The Scarlet Knights are a prime example of the direct relationship between the soaring revenues in college sports and the cost of trying to be successful, in football especially.

According to Sargeant, the athletic department spent $193.8 million in 2024-25, and that number is likely to surpass $200 million for 2025-26 when including the $20.5 million cap on revenue sharing.

"Obviously our expenses have exceeded and outpaced our revenue and in some cases year over year to a pretty significant degree," Rutgers athletic director Keli Zinn said. "That's a piece that we will spend quite a bit of time on, understanding that the current fiscal year that we sit in there was a $20.5 million expense with the revenue sharing (for athletes) and the additional scholarship support."

The Scarlet Knights plunged $76 million into football alone. The return on that was a 7-6 record and a loss to Kansas State in the Rate Bowl. Their ticket revenue even declined fractionally from 2023 to 2024.

The 2025-26 picture may not look any better when Rutgers finished 5-7 and missed a postseason bowl entirely. Meanwhile, head coach Greg Schiano has an average salary ($6.5 million) that ranked 38th nationally at the start of the season.

Plenty of attention has been paid to how conference consolidation could usher in a "super league" period for college football. Should that happen, schools outside of the Big Ten and SEC might not be the only ones left behind.