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Deion Sanders became the head coach of Colorado in 2023. Everyone started talking about the Buffaloes, and more people watched their games on TV and went to see them play. This made a lot of money for the school.
Boom! Just like that, Colorado raked in $142 million from July 2023 to June 2024. Expenses? They hit $132 million, climbing up by $5 million from last year.
Ticket sales? Through the roof! Coach Prime’s magic nearly doubled ticket revenue to $31.2 million, smashing the previous record of $16.57 million set in 2021. Merch and other goodies added another $16.7 million, up from $8.9 million the year before.
Despite all this spending, they still reported a profit! Thanks to some serious help from the university, which chipped in $27.1 million to cover last year’s shortfall and a dip in Pac-12 revenue.
Cory Hilliard, Colorado’s senior associate athletics director for business operations, explained how crucial this university support was. He mentioned they were still bouncing back from COVID-19 effects and dealing with conference changes impacting budgets.
“The campus has been working with us over the last few years in cleaning up the balance sheet,” Hilliard shared with The Daily Camera. “COVID, the Pac-12 shortfall in conference distribution due to legal settlement stuff.”
On the field? It was a rocky start for Deion Sanders, with a 4-8 finish. But then came the turnaround! Moving to the Big 12, they soared to a 9-4 record and even made it to a bowl game.
Travis Hunter had an epic season, snagging the Heisman Trophy and boosting his draft stock sky-high. Shedeur Sanders also shone brightly, leading in completion percentage and catching top draft prospect attention.
ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr. ranked Hunter as the top player on his Big Board, while Sanders came in at No. 4 overall – talk about making waves!