UL athletics is losing more money than you think
It’s no secret that UL’s athletics department isn’t exactly a moneymaker.
At a glance, the department runs a roughly $12 million annual deficit, a figure often cited by faculty and media outlets alike as the university’s financial troubles have dominated headlines. The bulk of those losses come from UL’s football team.
In reality, the situation is much more dire.
In truth, if athletics were to stand alone, it would have lost roughly $29 million in both the 2025 and 2024 budget years. A closer look at the department’s revenue shows that in addition to the known deficit, the university is subsidizing the athletics program with $16.5 million it generates from student housing, dining and transportation, plus $500,000 in student fees to supplement athletics.
On its own, athletics generated under $16 million in revenue in 2025, against $46 million in expenses. UL’s auxiliary division, the umbrella for student dining and other on-campus services, has largely made up the difference.
The auxiliary division has long been a cash cow for the university, generating millions for its budget through business-type activities on campus like dining and housing, in addition to receiving a portion of UL’s general/auxiliary fee, its heftiest, costing students as much as $1,700 each semester. In all, UL auxiliaries pulled in $52 million in revenue in the 2025 fiscal year.
As its deficit grew, UL shifted more of the general/auxiliary fee revenues to operational costs like payroll, instead of supporting the auxiliaries division, where it could have funded advancements in dining or transportation services.
UL officials say the change in use of the general/auxiliary student fee reflected a new budgeting approach.
“The change was not driven by a single expenditure or initiative but the university’s overall budget structure and operating needs,” says UL spokesperson James Savage.
Even with less money coming in, however, the auxiliaries division continued to subsidize athletics at $16 million annually. In UL’s athletics budget, that money is recognized as “direct institutional support” and has accounted for roughly half of the athletics department’s revenue since 2020.
During that time, athletics has spent like it’s got it. Spending increased by over $10 million from 2020 to 2025, even as full-time enrollment and university revenues decreased. In late 2025, the university revealed a $25 million operating deficit plus another $25 million in accumulated deficits.
Athletics took on cuts in 2026, mostly by not filling already vacant positions, Athletics Director Bryan Maggard told The Advocate earlier this year. Like the rest of the university, athletics revenue has failed to keep up with its growing expenditures, only at a wider margin.
UL is not alone in spending large amounts of university funds on athletics.
Several other, smaller Division 1 football schools, including other Sun Belt Conference universities, are in a similar financial boat. Removing direct support from their budgets, athletics departments around the state would also run significant deficits:
- Grambling State – $9 million
- Louisiana Tech – $20 million
- UL Monroe – $12 million
- UL Lafayette – $29 million
Many of UL’s Sun Belt competitors rely direct student fees to fund athletics. Marshall University, for instance, subsidizes its athletic program with $13.3 million in direct institutional support plus another $6.8 million in student fees. A key difference, however, is that Marshall broke even, while UL reported a more than $13 million athletic deficit in 2025, despite the $17 million it drew from direct support and fees.
UL football has struggled to fill its stadium, despite running a relatively successful program in recent years. According to CFBstats.com, Marshall had an average home attendance of 25,298 in 2025. UL’s average attendance during that same year was 19,982, less than two-thirds the capacity of its new stadium.
For its part, UL says the expense is a necessary investment in student experience and quality of life.
“Athletics plays an important role in advancing the University’s mission by enhancing the student experience, fostering school pride and creating opportunities for alumni and community engagement,” says Savage.
The auxiliary division itself is part of the student-life equation. Those funds, in theory, could be used to build and improve student housing, add more dining options or new transportation routes and services.
Students have complained about the conditions at UL housing, and in the 2025 fiscal year students were even housed in long-stay hotels due to a shortage of available rooms for incoming freshmen. The cost students pay for housing is part of auxiliary’s revenue, but much of that overall revenue goes to offsetting the department’s annual transfer to athletics instead of reinvesting in dorm maintenance or new construction.
Looking at enrollment, the current strategy doesn’t seem to be working.
UL has struggled with student retention, which in turn has led to a drop in revenues from its suite of student fees and tuition, which the university has cited as the main factor contributing to its financial troubles.
Meanwhile, to shore up its finances, UL has looked into selling off properties and shutting down underperforming programs, drawing pushback from students and faculty alike.
The university owns several properties that sit mostly abandoned, including the historic Griffin House in Freetown and the future 11-acre site of UL’s health science campus at 611 St. Landry Street. Next to that property, a parking garage at 200 St. Louis Street owned by the university for several years also sits abandoned.
Work on those properties doesn’t seem to be at all imminent, as the university is still projecting a $26 million deficit in the 2027 fiscal year.
Meanwhile, several departments saw 5% or 10% cuts as a result of the university’s financial difficulties, even as students pay excessive fees aimed at improving campus and student life.
Still, UL insists, putting university money directly into athletics is the name of the game in Division 1 sports; spending over double the revenue athletics brings in is how you have to compete.
“The Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns compete in an environment that has become increasingly expensive as the landscape of college athletics continues to evolve,” Savage tells The Current. Still, he adds, “we are committed to building an athletics program that is competitive, financially sustainable and positioned to advance the University.”
https://thecurrentla.com/2026/ul-athletics-is-losing-more-money-than-you-think/