Iowa Athletics is reconsidering its methods of team travel and nonconference scheduling, among other spending areas, as it prepare for direct revenue sharing with athletes in 2025-26.
“We want to be fiscally responsible in every way, and we want to develop a sustainable budget model,” deputy athletics director Joe Parker said on Tuesday during the university’s monthly Presidential Committee on Athletics meeting.
As Iowa works to free up about $20.5 million — the anticipated cap in 2025-26 for revenue sharing as part of the House vs. NCAA settlement — travel is far from a surprising target for cost savings.
Team travel was a $13.4 million expense in 2023-24, according to Iowa’s most recent NCAA financial filing. (And that was before the four west-coast schools joined the Big Ten.) The only higher expense categories involved staff compensation, athletic student aid or debt service.
“We’ll take a look at how all of our teams travel,” athletics director Beth Goetz told The Gazette after the meeting. “Certainly there’s some sort of standard for how some of our revenue sports move around, and that’ll continue. But I think we’re just going to try to be as resourceful as we can, and some of that has to do with how you schedule for other sports.”
Parker said Iowa officials have asked coaches to “think really long and hard about their nonconference scheduling and see if they can get it more regionalized.”
“Every time we put a team on the road, the most efficient way to do it is by bus,” Parker said at the PCA meeting. “Next is commercial aircraft. And then there’s some teams that we just have to simply choose to charter. … There’s big cost-saving opportunities there if we can apply that level of discipline.”
Goetz said the emphasis on regionalized scheduling is “not a hard-and-fast rule.” But if there is an appealing opportunity in the region, Iowa will “look at that first.”
Parker also sees apparel spending as a savings opportunity as the athletic administration is “trying to keep all our teams within the allocation” that they receive through Iowa’s contract with Nike.
Iowa has been judicious as well about whether to replace employees when they leave for other opportunities.
“I think right now we’ve been able to warehouse about six full-time positions that we haven’t refilled and we don’t plan to,” Parker said.
Iowa’s membership in the Big Ten comes with an obvious financial advantage as the conference is in the midst of a seven-year, $7 billion media rights deal with Fox, CBS and NBC. Parker also anticipates a one-time, relatively large distribution from Fox in the 2025-26 fiscal year as part of the network and conference’s joint ownership of Big Ten Network.
Outside of media revenue, Iowa has examined possible ticket price changes that could primarily affect football, men’s and women’s basketball and men’s wrestling.
“We got great secondary market information that we use now to help us price the initial sale of our tickets, whether it be our season ticket offerings or individual game sales,” Parker said. “So that’s something that we think we can deliver some additional revenues to the department (in 2025-26).”
The NCAA began allowing football programs to have sponsor logos on the field last year, and Iowa has expressed interest in pursuing that. Parker noted “great opportunities” for LED sponsor signage at field level near the Kinnick Stadium south end zone and atop the Carver-Hawkeye Arena tunnel.
Iowa officials also have shown interest in holding more events at Carver-Hawkeye Arena or Kinnick Stadium outside of Hawkeye home games or matches. They already have one in the calendar with the May 4 exhibition between the Caitlin Clark-led Indiana Fever and the Brazilian National Team.
“Can we perpetuate those type of opportunities and make that a rental opportunity for the arena and help us generate revenue?” Parker said.
Blake Shelton headlined a concert at Kinnick in 2016, with the proceeds benefiting a nonprofit that intended to help Iowans after natural disasters. Elsewhere in the Big Ten, Wisconsin’s Camp Randall Stadium will host Coldplay this summer. Penn State’s Beaver Stadium hosted a Luke Combs concert last year.
“For different reasons and different times, it sort of ebbs and flows,” Goetz said of Iowa’s potential to hold concerts. “And some of that has to do with the concert market and where they’re trying to move around to. But I think any time we have a chance to look at those opportunities, we certainly will.”
As Iowa makes budgetary changes to support revenue sharing, Parker reiterated the athletics department will not be cutting any of its 22 intercollegiate sports.
“That’s not an option that’s ever been discussed on our campus,” Parker said.
Parker’s comments were in line with what Goetz has been saying publicly since last July. It is a notable contrast from Iowa’s previous athletics administration, as the Gary Barta-led department attempted to cut four sports during COVID-19.
But Iowa will have fewer athletes on campus in 2025-26 than in 2024-25 because of the roster caps included in the House vs. NCAA settlement. (The roster caps will replace the NCAA’s scholarship limits for schools that opt in to the settlement.)
Parker said the number of athletes will likely go down “by almost 100,” with it mostly affecting walk-ons.
“We hate the thought of limiting the access to the experience, but at the same time, we’re trying to see it as a glass half-full and that we can serve the 550 student-athletes that will still remain a part of our roster in a higher level and a better way.”
Iowa also will be adding 20-plus scholarships for women’s sports, Parker said during the PCA meeting. Goetz told The Gazette afterward Iowa is adding them “in order to be in compliance with Title IX requirements.”
“Once they’re allocated and actually awarded out, obviously that’ll become more public, but we made some strategic decisions about where we thought they could be most impactful,” Goetz said.
It is a relatively proactive approach for an athletics department that — under Barta’s leadership — settled a Title IX lawsuit with women’s swimming athletes for nearly $400,000 in 2021. The settlement forced Iowa to add another women’s sport (wrestling) and keep women’s swimming and diving for at least seven more years.
“We want to be fiscally responsible in every way, and we want to develop a sustainable budget model,” deputy athletics director Joe Parker said on Tuesday during the university’s monthly Presidential Committee on Athletics meeting.
As Iowa works to free up about $20.5 million — the anticipated cap in 2025-26 for revenue sharing as part of the House vs. NCAA settlement — travel is far from a surprising target for cost savings.
Team travel was a $13.4 million expense in 2023-24, according to Iowa’s most recent NCAA financial filing. (And that was before the four west-coast schools joined the Big Ten.) The only higher expense categories involved staff compensation, athletic student aid or debt service.
“We’ll take a look at how all of our teams travel,” athletics director Beth Goetz told The Gazette after the meeting. “Certainly there’s some sort of standard for how some of our revenue sports move around, and that’ll continue. But I think we’re just going to try to be as resourceful as we can, and some of that has to do with how you schedule for other sports.”
Parker said Iowa officials have asked coaches to “think really long and hard about their nonconference scheduling and see if they can get it more regionalized.”
“Every time we put a team on the road, the most efficient way to do it is by bus,” Parker said at the PCA meeting. “Next is commercial aircraft. And then there’s some teams that we just have to simply choose to charter. … There’s big cost-saving opportunities there if we can apply that level of discipline.”
Goetz said the emphasis on regionalized scheduling is “not a hard-and-fast rule.” But if there is an appealing opportunity in the region, Iowa will “look at that first.”
Parker also sees apparel spending as a savings opportunity as the athletic administration is “trying to keep all our teams within the allocation” that they receive through Iowa’s contract with Nike.
Iowa has been judicious as well about whether to replace employees when they leave for other opportunities.
“I think right now we’ve been able to warehouse about six full-time positions that we haven’t refilled and we don’t plan to,” Parker said.
New and not-so-new revenue sources can help
Iowa’s membership in the Big Ten comes with an obvious financial advantage as the conference is in the midst of a seven-year, $7 billion media rights deal with Fox, CBS and NBC. Parker also anticipates a one-time, relatively large distribution from Fox in the 2025-26 fiscal year as part of the network and conference’s joint ownership of Big Ten Network.
Outside of media revenue, Iowa has examined possible ticket price changes that could primarily affect football, men’s and women’s basketball and men’s wrestling.
“We got great secondary market information that we use now to help us price the initial sale of our tickets, whether it be our season ticket offerings or individual game sales,” Parker said. “So that’s something that we think we can deliver some additional revenues to the department (in 2025-26).”
The NCAA began allowing football programs to have sponsor logos on the field last year, and Iowa has expressed interest in pursuing that. Parker noted “great opportunities” for LED sponsor signage at field level near the Kinnick Stadium south end zone and atop the Carver-Hawkeye Arena tunnel.
More events at Carver or Kinnick?
Iowa officials also have shown interest in holding more events at Carver-Hawkeye Arena or Kinnick Stadium outside of Hawkeye home games or matches. They already have one in the calendar with the May 4 exhibition between the Caitlin Clark-led Indiana Fever and the Brazilian National Team.
“Can we perpetuate those type of opportunities and make that a rental opportunity for the arena and help us generate revenue?” Parker said.
Blake Shelton headlined a concert at Kinnick in 2016, with the proceeds benefiting a nonprofit that intended to help Iowans after natural disasters. Elsewhere in the Big Ten, Wisconsin’s Camp Randall Stadium will host Coldplay this summer. Penn State’s Beaver Stadium hosted a Luke Combs concert last year.
“For different reasons and different times, it sort of ebbs and flows,” Goetz said of Iowa’s potential to hold concerts. “And some of that has to do with the concert market and where they’re trying to move around to. But I think any time we have a chance to look at those opportunities, we certainly will.”
Fewer athletes, but not fewer sports on campus
As Iowa makes budgetary changes to support revenue sharing, Parker reiterated the athletics department will not be cutting any of its 22 intercollegiate sports.
“That’s not an option that’s ever been discussed on our campus,” Parker said.
Parker’s comments were in line with what Goetz has been saying publicly since last July. It is a notable contrast from Iowa’s previous athletics administration, as the Gary Barta-led department attempted to cut four sports during COVID-19.
But Iowa will have fewer athletes on campus in 2025-26 than in 2024-25 because of the roster caps included in the House vs. NCAA settlement. (The roster caps will replace the NCAA’s scholarship limits for schools that opt in to the settlement.)
Parker said the number of athletes will likely go down “by almost 100,” with it mostly affecting walk-ons.
“We hate the thought of limiting the access to the experience, but at the same time, we’re trying to see it as a glass half-full and that we can serve the 550 student-athletes that will still remain a part of our roster in a higher level and a better way.”
Added scholarships for women’s sports
Iowa also will be adding 20-plus scholarships for women’s sports, Parker said during the PCA meeting. Goetz told The Gazette afterward Iowa is adding them “in order to be in compliance with Title IX requirements.”
“Once they’re allocated and actually awarded out, obviously that’ll become more public, but we made some strategic decisions about where we thought they could be most impactful,” Goetz said.
It is a relatively proactive approach for an athletics department that — under Barta’s leadership — settled a Title IX lawsuit with women’s swimming athletes for nearly $400,000 in 2021. The settlement forced Iowa to add another women’s sport (wrestling) and keep women’s swimming and diving for at least seven more years.
Iowa reconsiders team travel, nonconference scheduling ahead of revenue sharing era
Iowa officials expressed a desire to be “fiscally responsible in every way” ahead of fully participating in direct revenue sharing with athletes when it becomes permissible in 2025-26.
www.thegazette.com
