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About a month ago, the University of Washington’s Board of Regents assembled for their normal June meeting to approve the university’s consolidated operating budget for the 2027 fiscal year (FY27).Ìý

Included among the 63 pages explaining the university’s financial operations, the intercollegiate athletics (ICA) operating budget projected UW will have a $16 million negative cash flow. Washington’s athletics department hasn’t generated net revenue since the 2023 fiscal year, but its FY27 budgeted deficit is an improvement on the $19 million negative cash flow it projected on its .Ìý

The FY27 ICA operating budget was approved by the Board of Regents as part of the consolidated operating budget on June 11.Ìý 

Neither athletic director Pat Chun, deputy athletic director Erin O’Connell, nor any other member of the UW athletics department were listed as presenters on the meeting’s agenda.Ìý

Jason Campbell, the university’s senior vice president for finance, planning and budgeting, presented the consolidated budget along with Rodney Worden, interim vice president for facilities; Jed Bradley, assistant vice president for budget, policy and strategy, and Jon Alford, chief financial officer for UW Medicine and vice president for medical affairs.Ìý

The ICA’s FY27 operating budget estimates UW will generate $190 million in total revenue against $206 million in expenditures. It expects to make $59 million on ticket sales, $54 million in conference and NCAA distributions, $21 million in sponsorships and $30 million in donations and gifts.Ìý

UW’s projected revenue for FY27 is a 12.4% increase on its projected revenue for FY26, when the athletic department estimated it was going to make $169 million. Its forecast expenses for FY27 are only a 6.7% increase from FY26, when it projected spending $193 million.Ìý

And those revenue projections don’t include , announced on March 13, for Hec Edmundson Pavilion, which will net the athletic department around $28 million across the next 10 years. Washington also continues to negotiate a new naming-rights agreement for Husky Stadium and is considering partners for commercial uniform patches.Ìý

However, the cost of business continues to rise in college athletics. After budgeting to spend $58 million in salaries for FY26, UW athletics expects to spend $65 million in FY27. The athletic department will also spend $21.3 million on revenue sharing with its student athletes in FY27. It also expects to spend $70 million on supplies, materials, purchased services and utilities, a $5 million increase from its FY26 operating budget but a substantial decrease from the $87 million it spent in the 2025 fiscal year.

The budget plans to cover the deficit with another loan from the university’s Capital Asset Pool (CAP), another interest-free $10 million loan from the Big Ten against UW’s future earnings and using part of a $13-million donor-restricted contribution received during the 2025 fiscal year. Washington’s athletic department was also granted another extension of its financial stability plan (FSP) waiver through June 2027.Ìý

The UW athletics department has leaned on many of these remedies during the past. It received a $14.6 million CAP loan for fiscal year (FY25) and took an even larger $17.7 million loan for its FY26 operating budget.

It requested a $14.4 million CAP loan for FY27. UW athletics’ $238 million in debt for the 2012 Husky Stadium and Husky Ballpark renovations represent around 12% of the total funds owed to the university’s internal lending program (ILP). The athletics department returned to making full debt service payments — interest plus principle — during FY26. UW athletics can still borrow up to $72.2 million from CAP following the FY27 budget’s approval.Ìý

UW has also taken interest-free loans from the Big Ten in FY25 and FY26. It also received an interest-free $10 million loan from the Fox News Network in FY25 to help facilitate its move from the Pac-12 to the Big Ten. The athletics department has also received an FSP waiver in FY25 and FY26 after failing to reach loan covenant benchmarks for stadium debt repayment to the ILP.Ìý

The athletics department also received approval for institutional support from nonstate sources for student-athlete health and wellness and to offset financial aid expenses incurred specifically by Olympic sport athletes.

And while CAP loans and Big Ten assistance have kept the athletic department’s operating budget functional for the past three years, Washington still has several years to go until 2030, when it will be eligible to earn a full share of the conference’s media rights distributions.

Campbell, Alford, Worden and Annette Sommer, associate vice president and university treasurer, made their budget, finance and capital report to the Board of Regents’ finance and asset management committee on the same day they presented the consolidated budget.Ìý

According to their 16-page presentation, the athletics department was the only evaluated unit that received a negative credit outlook from the university treasury because of operating losses, sector uncertainty and low reserve levels. The report noted the athletic department continues to work with the executive office and Campbell’s finance, planning and budgeting division — where Coil previously worked before joining the athletic department — to find solutions.Ìý

“It is anticipated that ICA will face ongoing financial pressures through at least (the 2030 fiscal year),� the report said. “Additionally, continued uncertainty around changes in NCAA regulations, outcomes of pending litigations, and increased Big Ten operating costs, present many complicated risks to ICA’s bottom line.�