Ithaca, New York · Football Championship Subdivision · private nonprofit university. Cornell University reported $50.4M of athletic revenue in 2024-25 against $46.7M of expenses. That is 2.1 times the $23.8M median for the 131 Football Championship Subdivision programs, and it ranks 8th of 131 in the FCS and 104th of 358 across Division I. Revenue rose 23.5% on the prior year’s $40.8M.
Analysis by Matthew Hanauer, PhD, Chief Technology Officer at Civly · All 358 Division I schools
All figures come from the school’s own filings for 2024-25 and are compared with the 131 programs in its group.
Paying the full $21.3M revenue-sharing cap for 2026-27 would take 42.2% of this department’s revenue. The cap is the most a school may pay its athletes directly, and no school is required to pay it. Third-party name, image and likeness money is uncapped and does not count against it. At that share of revenue, the percentage mainly reflects the program’s size. Schools outside the four conferences bound by the settlement opted in to keep the option open. Opting in does not commit a school to any level of spending.
1,150 athletes were counted at the school in the survey year, filling 744 men’s and 604 women’s roster spots across 21 sports. The two counts differ because an athlete who plays two sports fills a spot in both. Enrollment is 15,839. Ice Hockey is the largest single line, $4.6M of revenue against $4.2M of expenses, which is 9% of what the department earned.
Each row shows one sport’s revenue, expenses and athletes.
| Sport | Revenue | Expenses | Net | Men | Women |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ice Hockey | $4.6M | $4.2M | +$424k | 31 | 27 |
| Football | $4.6M | $4.6M | +$0 | 109 | 0 |
| Lacrosse | $3.0M | $2.7M | +$288k | 53 | 43 |
| Basketball | $3.0M | $2.9M | +$109k | 20 | 19 |
| Rowing | $2.3M | $1.8M | +$485k | 97 | 50 |
| Other Sports | $2.2M | $1.9M | +$232k | 71 | 28 |
| Squash | $2.2M | $591k | +$1.6M | 16 | 16 |
| Track and Field and Cross Country (combined) | $2.1M | $2.1M | +$16k | 179 | 171 |
| Soccer | $1.4M | $1.4M | +$55k | 35 | 34 |
| Wrestling | $1.4M | $1.3M | +$41k | 40 | 0 |
| Tennis | $1.3M | $1.3M | +$0 | 12 | 11 |
| Swimming and Diving (combined) | $1.1M | $1.1M | +$0 | 34 | 34 |
| Field Hockey | $811k | $811k | +$0 | 0 | 24 |
| Baseball | $811k | $811k | +$0 | 37 | 0 |
| Gymnastics | $628k | $541k | +$87k | 0 | 25 |
| Softball | $617k | $617k | +$0 | 0 | 20 |
| Volleyball | $604k | $604k | +$0 | 0 | 21 |
| Fencing | $482k | $482k | +$0 | 0 | 34 |
| Sailing | $437k | $417k | +$20k | 0 | 18 |
| Equestrian | $395k | $395k | +$0 | 0 | 29 |
| Golf | $136k | $136k | +$0 | 10 | 0 |
The table shows the 21 sports at Cornell 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, are counted only in the department totals above, so these rows do not add to those totals. Sort by any column.
We have not yet verified an organization that funds this program’s athletes.
No booster foundation or NIL collective has been matched to this program in the tax filings we hold. The program may still have one that we have not verified. Many schools raise through the university’s main foundation, which files one return for the whole institution. Many collectives are young, file late, or are set up as for-profit companies that file nothing public.
Of the 358 Division I programs, 54 have a funder we can name. Unconfirmed candidates are left off, because a wrong tax ID would put a wrong dollar figure under this school’s name.
The revenue-sharing cap is the most a school may pay its athletes directly: $20.5M for 2025-26 and $21.3M for 2026-27. No school is required to pay it. Third-party NIL money is uncapped and does not count against it. No federal athletics survey covers a revenue-sharing year yet. The first is expected 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. Because filing is a federal requirement, the survey covers private universities that NCAA-based databases do not include. The figures are the school’s own reported numbers for 2024-25, and the Department of Education does not audit them. Reported revenue includes direct institutional support and student fees, so every department in the survey reports revenue at least equal to its expenses, and a reported surplus does not mean a profit.
A funder is linked to a program only when the organization’s filed name, its state and its stated purpose all match the school. Nickname matches, which are shared with high-school clubs and in one case a dairy, go to human review.
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.
Civly Athletics vets athletes. Collective Prospecting finds and qualifies the donors behind a collective and traces each name to a filing or a public post.