College Sports Money · Division I FBS

Oklahoma State University-Main Campus

Stillwater, Oklahoma · Football Bowl Subdivision · public university. Oklahoma State University-Main Campus reported $153.7M of athletic revenue in 2024-25 against $153.7M of expenses. That is 1.3 times the $116.0M median for the 128 Football Bowl Subdivision programs, and it ranks 43rd of 128 in the FBS and 43rd of 358 across Division I. Revenue rose 16.8% on the prior year’s $131.6M.

Analysis by , Chief Technology Officer at Civly · All 358 Division I schools

$153.7M
athletic revenue, 2024-25
$153.7M
athletic expenses
$0
revenue less expenses
+16.8%
revenue against the prior year
43rd of 128
by revenue in the FBS
43rd of 358
by revenue in Division I
477
athletes · 283 men, 320 women
19,972
students enrolled

What the numbers say

Everything below is the school’s own filed figures for 2024-25, read against the 128 programs it is grouped with.

The cap against this budget

What maxing direct pay to athletes would cost

Paying the full $21.3M revenue-sharing cap for 2026-27 would take 13.9% 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.

Who is on the rosters

Participation and enrollment as surveyed

477 athletes were counted at the school in the survey year, filling 283 men’s and 320 women’s roster spots across 10 sports. The two counts differ because an athlete who plays two sports fills a spot in both. Enrollment is 19,972. Football is the largest single line, $57.0M of revenue against $32.8M of expenses, which is 37% of what the department earned.

Sport by sport

What each sport brought in, what it cost, and how many athletes it carried.

SportRevenueExpensesNetMenWomen
Football$57.0M$32.8M+$24.2M1360
Basketball$20.4M$16.2M+$4.2M1714
Wrestling$3.1M$5.1M−$2.0M350
Baseball$3.1M$4.6M−$1.5M410
Equestrian$1.5M$3.5M−$2.1M049
Tennis$1.4M$2.8M−$1.4M77
Softball$1.4M$3.7M−$2.3M025
Golf$1.4M$3.3M−$2.0M1111
Soccer$538k$1.9M−$1.4M030
Track and Field and Cross Country (combined)$503k$5.2M−$4.7M36184

The 10 sports at Oklahoma State University-Main Campus 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.

Who funds the athletes

The 2 organizations we have verified as funding this program, and what their own tax returns say they raised.

Cowboy Athletics Inc

Booster foundation · EIN 020669448 · Stillwater, OK · tax year 2024, for the period ending 2024-12-31
Total revenue
$35.8M
Contributions
$31.2M
Total revenue, year before
$22.1M
Contributions, year before
$13.4M
Change in revenue
+$13.7M

“To Support Oklahoma State University Athletics.”

The link to Oklahoma State University-Main Campus comes from what this organization says it exists for, in the mission statement on its own tax return, plus its registration in the same state. Names the school in its own 990 mission ('oklahoma state university'); athletics wording in the name; athletics/NIL language in the 990 mission; same city (Stillwater).

Pokes with a Purpose Inc

NIL collective · EIN 881533796 · Tulsa, OK · tax year 2023, for the period ending 2024-06-30
Total revenue
$6.4M
Contributions
$6.4M
Total revenue, year before
$946k
Contributions, year before
$946k
Change in revenue
+$5.5M

“To create and develop name/image/likeness opportunities for all Oklahoma State University”

The link to Oklahoma State University-Main Campus was verified by hand. Oklahoma State's NIL collective, Tulsa OK — not Stillwater, so city agreement fails. Absent from the Business Master File entirely despite filing a 990, which is why the resolver also reads the e-file data. The outlier that books real grants to individuals ($4.72M) rather than fees-for-services.

What to hold against these numbers

Three things that change how the figures above should be read.

1

The survey year comes before revenue sharing started

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.

2

What the survey is

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.

3

What a tax return can and cannot show

A Form 990 shows what an organization raised. It never shows what any athlete was paid. No figure in the funder section is anyone’s compensation or the value of any deal. There is also no single donor-money line on the form: some organizations book donor money as contributions, others as program service revenue or fees for services, which is why total revenue leads.

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.

Know who funds a program before you deal with it

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.