Matt Brown at Extra Points released the FRS reporting numbers for Fiscal Year 2025, giving us a better look at spending tied to the 2024 football season.
An FRS report, sometimes referred to as an MFRS report, is the annual financial submission required from NCAA member institutions through the Membership Financial Reporting System. It details athletic department operating revenues, expenses, capital expenditures, and other data, including student aid and sports sponsorship, to promote transparency and compliance with NCAA rules. Division I schools also pair the report with independent Agreed-Upon Procedures.
It is not a perfect data set. It can be skewed in certain areas by institutional reporting, accounting structure, facility expenses, or how costs are categorized. But it is still the best comparative tool we have across college athletics.
We are compiling the numbers and building a picture of what the new look Mountain West could look like on July 1, 2026, offering a glimpse of where schools currently stand and where some may need to make adjustments.
Major hat tip to Brown and Extra Points Library for doing the legwork on requests to schools and compiling the information. These are expenses reported to the NCAA, due in January each year, and required of every Division I school. Private schools and some public schools are not required to disclose this information through FOIA or open records requests.
Mountain West Football Budgets
FY25 Football Expenses
University of Nevada, Las Vegas: $21,767,260
San Jose State University: $16,017,209
University of New Mexico: $15,386,871
University of Nevada, Reno: $14,787,520
University of Hawaii: $13,943,117
Northern Illinois University: $13,269,400
University of Wyoming: $13,091,900
University of Texas at El Paso: $12,717,061
U.S. Air Force Academy: $12,007,431
North Dakota State University: $8,353,482
Average: $14,134,125 per school
Now, looking at the 2024 football season with this group of teams, the comparison to on-field success is a little skewed, as five of the top six teams in the league at the time are not listed here due to the great breakup of the MWC-PAC. Still, UNLV finished second, ended the year ranked No. 23, went 11-3, and beat ACC member Cal in the L.A. Bowl.
Elsewhere, UTEP showed signs of life under first-year head coach Scotty Walden, especially over the final six games, going 3-3. Northern Illinois went 8-5 overall and 4-4 in the MAC, while operating with what would have been the third-best budget in the MAC for comparative purposes. North Dakota State, under then-first-year head coach Tim Polasek, went 14-2 en route to another FCS national championship. Compared to the public schools in the Missouri Valley Football Conference and Big Sky Conference, NDSU sits fifth in budget.
It is also probably safe to assume these numbers will continue to grow. Similar to the future Pac-12, a conservative estimate would put leaguewide football budget growth around 5% in the coming years. Among future Mountain West schools, Northern Illinois saw the largest jump from FY24 to FY25, increasing its football budget by 14.5%. Nevada and San Jose State were right behind at roughly 9%, while New Mexico increased by 5%. With the momentum around the Lobos’ fan base and football program right now, it would not be surprising to see New Mexico take another significant jump.
North Dakota State is an especially interesting case in this situation. As previously noted by HERO Sports and Daniel Libit, NDSU’s membership agreement includes a clause requiring the program to maintain football spending that is “reasonably comparable” to the league average. If the Bison struggle competitively, they are required to increase football expenditures the following year to match or exceed conference peers.
I believe the Bison will compete from day one. They are extremely efficient, even if they don’t spend another dime in the league (Spoiler Alert: They will). But they have also been fundraising to make the move up, and we will surely see those numbers climb. The Bison have already operated like an FBS program and, according to some reports, have quietly secured as much as $25 million over the last several months. They also have an elite athletic director in Matt Larsen, who understands the landscape. Some reports also have the Bison looking to double their football budget to roughly $16 million in the coming years, which would put them much closer to the current Mountain West average.
Additionally, as noted before, UTEP and Northern Illinois have made significant strides in growing revenues and increasing investments to compete in the new-look Mountain West.
For what it’s worth, two rumored expansion targets would fit into this financial picture fairly cleanly. Extra Points’ and their FRS reporting had New Mexico State at $12,172,663 and Toledo at $13,024,382, putting both in the same general range as several future Mountain West programs.
