The University of Colorado’s athletic department is staring down a projected $27 million operating deficit for the fiscal year ending in June 2026, according to budget data obtained by USA TODAY Sports.
The shortfall represents the largest projected deficit in the history of the program—and it arrives at a moment when big financial bets are colliding with underwhelming results on the field.
At the center of the budget crunch are two major expenses. The first is Colorado’s commitment to up to $20.5 million annually in direct player benefits and payments tied to the NCAA’s House legal settlement, which took effect this year and will increase by 4% in each of the next two seasons.
The second is the university’s investment in head football coach Deion Sanders, whose five-year contract—signed in March—pays more than $10 million per year.
Those costs alone account for most of the projected gap. Colorado officials previously acknowledged that how they would fund those obligations was still unclear, and that uncertainty remains. Asked who would ultimately cover the rising expenses if not the university, school spokesperson Steve Hurlbert said, “The mechanics of that are still to be determined.”
The athletic department projects $136.7 million in revenue and $163.7 million in expenses for fiscal year 2026, with football accounting for the largest single expenditure at $60.4 million.
While administrators hope to reduce the deficit through donations, sponsorships, and concerts at Folsom Field, even optimistic scenarios point toward tens of millions in combined subsidies once institutional support and student fees are factored in.
Hurlbert emphasized that Colorado does not plan to cut sports or reduce resources for student-athletes, and he stressed that tuition dollars and state funding would not be used to cover the shortfall. Still, several observers familiar with the university’s finances questioned how clean that separation can realistically be.
“This notion that they’re spending resources that otherwise couldn’t be spent on putting more kids through college or funding cancer research is just absurd,” said Jack Kroll, a former member of Colorado’s Board of Regents. “There’s no truth to that whatsoever.”
Complicating matters further, athletic director Rick George is set to step down at the end of the fiscal year, just as Colorado navigates donor uncertainty, a 3–9 football season in 2025, and waning attendance after the initial surge of excitement during Sanders’ first year in 2023.
Colorado isn’t alone in this financial squeeze. In fiscal 2024, at least 33 Division I athletic departments relied on $30 million or more in university support, including Arizona State, Houston, and South Florida. Still, as emeritus professor Roger Pielke put it, the outlook in Boulder remains challenging.
“That would mean that the university will have to fill the gap,” Pielke said.