Kansas State Athletic Department Is Nation’s Most Profitable

John Currie has taken a lot of undeserved criticism of late. As detailed here yesterday, Frank Martin’s departure (from which most of that criticism has sprung) was basically inevitable, and had much more to do with Martin’s own arrogance and bullying than anything Currie did or did not do. Now word comes down that Currie’s KSU athletic department is the most profitable in the country.

In a late afternoon story on KansasCity.com (The Star’s web presence), Kellis Robinett delved into the story further. Apparently, 99 athletic departments at schools which play BCS football were surveyed for the profitability report. With  expenses of $46.5 million set against revenue of $70.0 million, KSU’s $23.5 million in profit easily outpaced Texas’s second place profit total of around $16.6 million. The other three schools in the top 5 were LSU, Alabama, and Florida.

Assistant athletic director for communications Kenneth Lannou warned, however, that the numbers did not reflect an actual hard dollar amount that KSU has banked:

"We had a great year, but we didn’t put $23 million in the bank. We’re probably in the neighborhood of a $3-$4 million cash surplus."

This discrepancy comes as a result of a multi-year fundraising campaign. Some donations which will be spread over multiple years, but are listed as fully-paid donations for accounting purposes.

Even given that caveat, however, there is much of which K-State fans and alumni can be proud. Of the 99 athletic departments examined, only 19 showed any profit at all, with the other 80 running red balances.

It is very telling for Currie’s own legacy at Kansas State that the year before he arrived, the athletic department was not operating at a profit. At that point, the department was running a deficit of nearly $3 million. Whatever else can be said of Currie, even his harshest critics must admit that he has guided the KSU athletic department from the dark hours of the previous regime to an era where a much brighter future lies ahead.