Stony Brook is spending more than almost every other FCS program
It’s easy sometimes, staring at a half-empty La Valle Stadium in Week 7 of the football season or a relatively quiet IFCU Arena during the winter break, to forget just how well positioned Stony Brook is in the grander scheme of NCAA Division I athletics.
Earlier this month, USA Today published their annual report looking at revenue and spending figures from the country’s public Division I athletics programs. Schools from the Power 5 conferences predictably dominate the top of the rankings, working with budgets well north of $100 million. Texas A&M out of the SEC tops the list with nearly $200 million in revenue in 2015–2016.
If you factor out the Power 5 schools (which occupy 52 of the top 55 spots), Stony Brook’s financial footing looks incredibly solid. Among the 178 non-Power 5 programs in USA Today’s database, Stony Brook ranks 38th overall in revenue with $31,692,805 reported in the 2015–2016 academic year. The figure is even more impressive if you narrow the window to just FCS or non-football programs: Only reigning FCS national champion James Madison, Delaware, and UC-Davis brought in more revenue than Stony Brook last year.
The Seawolves also did a better job than most programs in keeping their expenses in check. Despite spending more than any other program in America East and all but two in the CAA, Stony Brook reported net revenue of more than $700,000, tops in either conference and 9th best among all FCS programs.
Within New York State, Stony Brook only trails FBS Buffalo in revenue, and even then only by $2.5 million. Albany and Binghamton both fall well behind. Stony Brook benefits from $26,807,295 in allocations—the highest among New York’s public universities—a figure that includes student activities fees and state funding for athletics expenses.
Though Stony Brook spends more than most of their peer programs, much of that is owed to the premium they pay for operating on Long Island, one of the most expensive parts of the country. Salaries, construction costs, security contracts, advertising, even food: all cost more in Suffolk County than, say, eastern Ohio, where Youngstown State has an operating budget half the size of Stony Brook’s.
Still, the strong financial foundation is a promising indicator for Athletics Director Shawn Heilbron’s lofty ambitions for the program. An expansion to La Valle Stadium’s north endzone this off-season is the first step towards singificantly increasing the seating capacity to bring it into FBS compliance, and other facility improvements, like an indoor field house, are in the works.
