Skip to main content
We're now less than 24 hours away from the beginning of the Women's College World Series. One last topic I'd like to explore before the start of play is the participating schools' athletic budgets.

The Indianapolis Star newspaper compiled what it calls the NCAA Financial Reports Database, which provides revenue and expediture information -- broken down into fairly fine-grained categories -- for a large number of NCAA schools. It's actually a lot of fun to poke around in the database, which you can access via the above link. You can select schools, and for each school, switch between "Revenue Statement" and "Expense Statement."

I first viewed the database several weeks ago after hearing about it through -- what else -- a sports discussion board. As I was going back to look at it earlier today, I was hoping that information would be available specifically for softball, but that wasn't the case. As you can see, the breakdowns are only for football, men's basketball, women's basketball, and "Other." We thus won't be able to see what the eight WCWS schools spend on softball, but we can still look at overall athletic budgets, which probably give some indication of how well softball is funded at a given institution. Here are the overall athletic expenditures ("Total Operating" expenses), ranked in descending order:

University of Texas, Austin $82,400,829

University of Tennessee $71,783,012

University of Alabama (Tuscaloosa) $56,989,608

UCLA $46,010,599

University of Arizona $40,760,160

Arizona State University $39,749,018

Oregon State University $36,106,183

Northwestern University -- Unavailable, as private schools not required to disclose (see link to database above for explanation)

I encourage those of you who are fans of schools not listed above to check out your institution's expenditures. If, as seems likely, the amount is less than some or all of the schools above, maybe you won't feel so bad about your team's failure to make it to Oklahoma City.

Popular posts from this blog

Jordy Bahl Transferring from Oklahoma to Nebraska

The college softball world has thrown us a "Curve Bahl," if you will. Such is the unexpected news that Oklahoma ace Jordy Bahl has announced that she will transfer to the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. Bahl is from the Omaha suburb of Papillion, Nebraska. Three thoughts jump out at me: Bahl was absolutely indispensable to the Sooners' 61-1 national championship season, coming up with numerous clutch strikeouts in tight tournament games against Clemson (super-regionals, Game 2 ) and Stanford ( WCWS semifinals ).    OU benefited greatly this season via the transfer portal, bringing in Haley Lee  from Texas A&M,  Alex Storako from Michigan, and Cydney Sanders and Alynah Torres from Arizona State. Bahl's transfer is the first major one in the modern portal era (to my knowledge) in the other direction. Nebraska becomes an instant national championship contender, in my mind. Other players around the country may find it attractive to join Bahl in Lincoln but even if

2023 WCWS -- Day 4

Two elimination games are scheduled for today: Stanford vs. Washington, in an all-Pac 12 matchup (2:00 pm Central, ABC) and Oklahoma State vs. Tennessee (6 pm, ESPN2). Oklahoma State and Tennessee underway, scoreless as the Cowgirls bat in the top of the second... A two-out walk gives OSU runners at first and second... Full count... Soft pop-up to pitcher ends Cowgirl threat... Tennessee SS Mackenzie Donihoo with nice catch going back into shallow left ( video )... Still scoreless as Vols come up B3... Walk, steal, and Zaida Puni oppo double score first run, UT leads 1-0... Walk and single increase Vols' lead to 2-0 . Lexi Kilfoyl replacing Kelly Maxwell in the circle for Cowgirls... Tennessee with runners at second and third with one out... Walk to load bases... Grounder back to pitcher, gets force at the plate... Another grounder to the pitcher, this time she throws batter out at first... T4, OSU two-out rally, with single and double but runner thrown out at the plate ... Tennes

2023 WCWS -- Day 1

The 2023 Women's College World Series is underway. Today's schedule features a quadruple  triple-header of action. Due to weather delays and lateness in the evening of the Florida State-Oklahoma State game completion, the Washington-Utah game has been delayed until Friday afternoon... Game 3 between Oklahoma State and Florida State is in a weather delay... Game starts, with OSU going scoreless in top of first... B1, FSU's Michaela Edenfield blasts no-doubter two-run homer to left ( video ), 2-0 Seminoles... T2, Cowgirls threatening with runners on first and second and one out... Pop to SS for second out... Foul-out near left field to end threat... T3, one out... Another weather delay (minimum 40 minutes) due to lightning in the area... Florida State wins 8-0 in a six-inning, run-rule outcome... Game 2, between Stanford -- with ace pitcher NiJaree Canady going -- and Oklahoma -- starting Jordy Bahl in the circle --  is scoreless after one... Still scoreless after three