College Sports Money · Division I FCS

The University of Tennessee-Chattanooga

Chattanooga, Tennessee · Football Championship Subdivision · public university. The University of Tennessee-Chattanooga reported $26.4M of athletic revenue in 2024-25 against $26.4M of expenses. That is close to the $23.8M median for the 131 Football Championship Subdivision programs, and it ranks 57th of 131 in the FCS and 219th of 358 across Division I. Revenue rose 17.5% on the prior year’s $22.5M.

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

$26.4M
athletic revenue, 2024-25
$26.4M
athletic expenses
$0
revenue less expenses
+17.5%
revenue against the prior year
57th of 131
by revenue in the FCS
219th of 358
by revenue in Division I
401
athletes · 202 men, 232 women
9,212
students enrolled

What the numbers say

Everything below is the school’s own filed figures for 2024-25, read against the 131 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 80.5% 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.

Who is on the rosters

Participation and enrollment as surveyed

401 athletes were counted at the school in the survey year, filling 202 men’s and 232 women’s roster spots across 11 sports. The two counts differ because an athlete who plays two sports fills a spot in both. Enrollment is 9,212. Football is the largest single line, $6.5M of revenue against $6.5M of expenses, which is 25% of what the department earned.

Sport by sport

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

SportRevenueExpensesNetMenWomen
Football$6.5M$6.5M+$01170
Basketball$3.9M$3.9M+$01714
Golf$1.4M$1.4M+$0128
Wrestling$1.0M$1.0M+$0310
Softball$1.0M$1.0M+$0027
Soccer$991k$991k+$0027
Volleyball$933k$933k+$0055
Tennis$759k$759k+$0128
Track and Field and Cross Country (combined)$369k$369k+$0076
Beach Volleyball$175k$175k+$0017
Cross Country$172k$172k+$0130

The 11 sports at The University of Tennessee-Chattanooga 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

Athletic-department finances are published in several places. Who funds the athletes is not, and for this program we cannot yet name anyone.

No funder identified for this program

Not a finding that none exists

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.

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

Why a funder may be missing

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.

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.