����Ӱ��AV

Arizona’s athletic department reported a $400,000 operating surplus in 2024-25 after losing $20.4 million the year before, according to a report the school filed with the NCAA and presented to the Arizona Board of Regents earlier this week.

After the report was posted, Reed-Francois addressed the Regents’ meeting in Flagstaff on Thursday via Zoom.

“The story of fiscal year '25 is not simply about moving from deficit to surplus,” Reed-Francois said. “It’s about creating a sustainable model that allows Arizona Athletics to invest in student-athlete success, compete for championships and advances the mission of the University of Arizona.”

In what was its first fiscal year as a member of the Big 12 in 2024-25 — and the first fiscal year under Reed-Francois — Arizona reported operating revenues of $143.3 million, up 6.54% from $134.5 million the previous year, for a department that runs 22 sports involving 504 athletes.

The UA reported a 7.7% decrease in expenses, from $154.9 million in 2023-24 to $142.9 million in 2024-25. The $400,000 overall surplus in 2024-25 equaled the exact amount UA attributed to its surplus for its collective sports programs.

However, 2024-25 was the last year that UA did not pay its athletes directly. The school said it would pay athletes a collective $20.5 million, the maximum allowed for 2025-26 as a result of the House settlement of June 2025, potentially ballooning the school's 2025-26 athletic budget. (The Star's public records requests in April 2025 and March 2026 for UA's 2025-26 budget have not been returned).

While 72.3% of UA’s overall revenues came from specific sports in 2024-25, the school also received a major chunk from the Big 12. UA said it received $37.8 million from the Big 12 in 2024-25, up from the $30.4 million it received from the Pac-12 in 2023-24.

However, according to Wilner Hotline, that was still lower than the Big 12 average of $39.5 million, considerably lower than the more than $70 million the Big Ten and SEC distributed to their members — and also lower than the $47 million the ACC distributed to its full share members in 2024-25.

Meanwhile, Arizona said its ticket revenue increased 36% to $23.1 million in fiscal 2025, thanks in part to football sales that increased by more than $7.3 million in 2024, after UA won the 2023 Alamo Bowl.

With royalties, licensing and sponsorships, Arizona reported a 27% decrease in revenue in 2024-25, the first year it had its own Arizona Sports Enterprises multimedia arm instead of a third-party outfit. The drop came largely because UA did not take a payment from ASE, with those funds instead directly paid to UA athletes as NIL.

Meanwhile, the school’s 22 sports programs brought in $103.5 million against expenses of $103.1 million, effectively creating the department's overall $400,000 surplus. UA said it was a coincidence that the sport-specific surplus matched the athletic department's overall surplus.

UA reported that among its individual sports, football took in a $12.9 million profit while men’s basketball netted $7.2 million and all other sports lost money.

Meanwhile, ASU reported $166.1 million in overall athletic revenue and school financial support in 2024-25 against $164.7 million in expenses for a surplus of $1.4 million. ASU said its football program booked a $29.9 million profit, with $86.8 million of revenue against $56.9 million in expenses.

It was unclear whether ASU’s men’s basketball program made money in 2024-25, however. ASU did not separate its men’s and women’s basketball programs, saying only that they together lost $5.8 million ($11.1 million in revenue against $16.9 million in expenses).