North Carolina spent a record $188 million on athletics during the 2024-25 academic year, a total that includes nearly $14 million for upfront revenue-sharing payments to athletes for using their name, image and likeness.
The Tar Heels had a $14 million deficit during the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2025, according to its annual financial report to the NCAA. The shortfall between the department’s $173 million in revenues was covered by athletic department reserves.
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North Carolina made several high-profile hires during the fiscal year, including football coach Bill Belichick, football general manager Michael Lombardi, basketball general manager Jim Tanner and athletic director-in-waiting Steve Newmark.
The report includes revenue and expenses by sport across nearly 50 categories, offering a detailed look at spending for a department that sponsors 28 sports.
“Everyone’s trying to figure out how to generate more revenue for their athletic program,” UNC Chancellor Lee Roberts said last month. “We’re not different.”
UNC won national titles in women’s soccer and women’s lacrosse during the year and reached the final four in field hockey. The Tar Heels went 6-7 in football and lost in the first round of the NCAA Tournament in men’s basketball after being the final team in the field of 68.
The department’s spending has grown by more than $67 million in the last four years — and is expected to see a significant increase again for the current year. UNC committed to share $20.5 million in revenue with athletes in four sports, add nearly 200 scholarships and invest in its football program under Belichick, who signed a five-year contract worth $50 million and just completed his first season in Chapel Hill.
“The intent was to make a long-term commitment to success in football,” Roberts said in January. “We’re not alone in that. I don’t know who you could point to who’s not making a significant investment across the Power 4 [conferences].”
He added: “We’re going to continue to invest in the football program.”
In the fiscal year covered by the report, UNC spent about $35 million on coaching salaries and benefits and more than $29 million on support staff and administrative compensation – up more than $6 million combined from the previous year. The Tar Heels also paid nearly $4 million in severance payments, all attributed to the football program.
The department paid $16 million in student aid and $15 million in facilities maintenance and operations.
The next largest line item was for “fund raising, marketing and promotion,” on which North Carolina saw its spending increase from $600,000 to more than $14 million. That line item was used for upfront payments ahead of direct revenue sharing, which became official in July.
The NCAA added a line item for institutional NIL revenue share to its form for future years.
The biggest drivers of revenue for the athletics department were contributions ($39.5 million), media rights ($34.2 million), ticket sales ($32.1 million) and advertisements and sponsorships ($23.9 million). Athletics received $8.5 million in student fees.
The operating revenue for the football program was $63.3 million, while $49.1 million in expenses were attributed to football. The men’s basketball program had $39.7 million in total operating revenue and $16.8 million in operating expenses.
Every other program had more in expenses than revenue. Football and men’s basketball accounted for all but $820,000 of the department’s media rights revenue, according to the report.
The department had nearly $30 million more expenses than revenue that were classified as unrelated to a specific sport.
Rival NC State spent $134.5 million on athletics in the same period. NC State didn’t report any significant increase in its “fund raising, marketing and promotions” line item.
Texas reported an athletics budget of nearly $376 million. Fellow ACC member Clemson spent $197.7 million in the fiscal year.