Louisiana-Monroe athletic department in third straight million-dollar deficit for 2020-21
Louisiana-Monroe athletics has found itself back in the red with another million-dollar deficit.
Still recovering from COVID-19 setbacks, ULM reported a $1,320,345 loss in the 2020-21 fiscal year. This marks the third straight million-dollar deficit in athletics and the fourth overall.
The report released by the Louisiana Legislative Auditor that looks into NCAA compliance of state universities had ULM brining in $16,820,553 in revenues. The majority of it came from non-program specific contributions. Louisiana-Monroe contributed $6,753,700 to athletics and the Sun Belt Conference added another $1,758,686. But expenses that totaled $18,140,989 put ULM for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2021.
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Despite a 0-10 season in 2020, football was the program that drove in the most money for ULM but it spent $2,266,722 more than the $4,252,223 collected. The women's basketball program brought in just $204,380 and spent $1,247,819.
Compared to the 2019-20 fiscal year, Louisiana-Monroe's losses were cut by more than half. With the rescheduling and cancellation of games and in some cases seasons, ULM lost $2,816,221 in the 2019-20 fiscal year.
Student aid was affected for all programs due to the nature of the transfer portal causing a significant fluctuation of rosters. Football was found to have been effected the most with a 4.91% decrease in scholarships.
Notably, the report stated that some amounts listed by ULM on the Statement of Revenues and Expenses were misclassified and therefore corrected during the audit.
Emely Hernandez covers University of Louisiana-Monroe athletics and high school sports. Email her at ehernandez@thenewsstar.com and follow her on Twitter @emhernandeznews.
This article originally appeared on Monroe News-Star: Louisiana-Monroe athletics in third straight million-dollar deficit for 2020-21
