Providence, Rhode Island · Football Championship Subdivision · private nonprofit university. Brown University reported $43.2M of athletic revenue in 2024-25 against $43.2M of expenses. That is 1.8 times the $23.8M median for the 131 Football Championship Subdivision programs, and it ranks 21st of 131 in the FCS and 130th of 358 across Division I. Revenue rose 2.3% on the prior year’s $42.2M.
Analysis by Matthew Hanauer, PhD, Chief Technology Officer at Civly · All 358 Division I schools
Everything below is the school’s own filed figures for 2024-25, read against the 131 programs it is grouped with.
Paying the full $21.3M revenue-sharing cap for 2026-27 would take 49.3% of everything this department took in. The cap is a ceiling on what a school may pay its athletes directly, not a spending figure and not an obligation, and third-party name, image and likeness money is uncapped and does not count against it. At that share of revenue the number measures the size of the program rather than a competitive gap. Schools outside the four conferences bound by the settlement opted in to keep the option open, not because they intend to spend anywhere near the ceiling.
995 athletes were counted at the school in the survey year, filling 505 men’s and 529 women’s roster spots across 22 sports. The two counts differ because an athlete who plays two sports fills a spot in both. Enrollment is 7,185. Football is the largest single line, $3.6M of revenue against $3.6M of expenses, which is 8% of what the department earned.
What each sport brought in, what it cost, and how many athletes it carried.
| Sport | Revenue | Expenses | Net | Men | Women |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Football | $3.6M | $3.6M | +$0 | 112 | 0 |
| Basketball | $3.0M | $3.0M | +$0 | 16 | 15 |
| Lacrosse | $2.6M | $2.6M | +$0 | 59 | 46 |
| Ice Hockey | $2.2M | $2.2M | +$0 | 31 | 24 |
| Rowing | $2.2M | $2.2M | +$0 | 59 | 48 |
| Soccer | $1.8M | $1.8M | +$0 | 31 | 31 |
| Water Polo | $1.5M | $1.5M | +$0 | 19 | 26 |
| Tennis | $959k | $959k | +$0 | 11 | 10 |
| Swimming and Diving (combined) | $904k | $904k | +$0 | 32 | 34 |
| Wrestling | $841k | $841k | +$0 | 24 | 0 |
| Sailing | $769k | $769k | +$0 | 11 | 50 |
| Baseball | $640k | $640k | +$0 | 34 | 0 |
| Field Hockey | $510k | $510k | +$0 | 0 | 26 |
| Softball | $505k | $505k | +$0 | 0 | 21 |
| Other Sports | $485k | $485k | +$0 | 0 | 35 |
| Volleyball | $484k | $484k | +$0 | 0 | 19 |
| Track and Field (Indoor) | $464k | $464k | +$0 | 23 | 31 |
| Track and Field (Outdoor) | $464k | $464k | +$0 | 24 | 32 |
| Cross Country | $363k | $363k | +$0 | 19 | 24 |
| Gymnastics | $344k | $344k | +$0 | 0 | 19 |
| Equestrian | $142k | $142k | +$0 | 0 | 23 |
| Fencing | $132k | $132k | +$0 | 0 | 15 |
The 22 sports at Brown University that reported money or participants in 2024-25. Sports the school surveyed but left empty are not shown. Revenue and expenses attributed to no single sport, which at most departments is the larger share of both, sit in the department totals above and not in this table, so these rows do not add to those totals. Sort by any column.
Athletic-department finances are published in several places. Who funds the athletes is not, and for this program we cannot yet name anyone.
No booster foundation or NIL collective has been matched to this program in the tax filings we hold. That means we have not verified one, not that the program has none. Many schools raise through the university’s main foundation, which files as a single organization covering the whole institution rather than athletics alone. Many collectives are young, file late, or are set up as for-profit companies that file nothing public.
A wrong tax ID would put a wrong dollar figure under this school’s name, so a candidate we cannot confirm is held back rather than guessed at. Of the 358 Division I programs, 54 have a funder we can name.
Three things that change how the figures above should be read.
The revenue-sharing cap is a ceiling on what a school may pay its athletes directly ($20.5M for 2025-26, $21.3M for 2026-27), not a spending figure and not an obligation. Third-party NIL is uncapped and does not count against it. No federal athletics survey covers a revenue-sharing year yet; the first lands around spring 2027.
Every college that takes federal student aid and fields a team files this survey each year under the Equity in Athletics Disclosure Act. It is a federal filing obligation rather than a public-records request, which is why it covers private universities that the NCAA-based databases cannot reach. The figures are the school’s own reported numbers for 2024-25, not audited by the Department of Education. Reported revenue includes direct institutional support and student fees, so every department in the survey reports revenue at least matching its expenses. A surplus here is not profit.
Athletic-department finances are published by several outfits. The link from a program to the organizations that fund its athletes is not, and it is the part these pages add. The link is built from the organization’s filed name, its state and its stated purpose, and it publishes only when all three hold. Nickname matches, which are shared with high-school clubs and in one case a dairy, go to human review instead.
Source: U.S. Department of Education, Equity in Athletics Disclosure Act survey, 2024-25; IRS Form 990 e-file releases for donor entities. Analysis: Civly.
This page is what the public record gives up for free. Civly Athletics vets the athlete, and Collective Prospecting finds and qualifies the donors behind a collective, each name traced to a filing or a public post.