How Much Would it Cost for Penn State Basketball to go Dancing?

In today’s college sports, it sure helps to have an athletic budget that plentifully, financially supports their sports’ programs, and this is true for Penn State basketball.

Matt Brown, the founder and publisher of the newsletter, Extra Points, breaks down how athletic departments generate and spend money, and he recently focused on NCAA Division 1 basketball programs to commemorate March Madness.

This recent study is from the Fiscal Year 2025 (FY25), or July 1, 2024 – June 30, 2025.

The data comes from the Total Operational Expenses, which includes all the money a school spends on coaching salaries, administrative salaries, scholarships, travel, software, recruiting and other operational expenses.

This report doesn’t include the athlete revenue share payments (NIL), because almost every school refuses to share this information.

But below are the top 20 most expensive men’s basketball operating budgets from FY25 along with their overall record, how much it cost per win and how far they went into the 2025 March Madness Tournament…if they even made it at all.

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1.  Indiana – $32,041,364 – (19-13) – Cost per win – $1,686,388 – *Did not make it to the tournament.
2. Tennessee – $23,183,445 – (30-8) – Cost per win – $772, 782 – Made it to the Elite 8.
3. Arizona – $22,608,493 – (24-13) – Cost per win – $942,021 – Made it to the Sweet 16.
4. Texas – $22,403,330 – (19-16) – Cost per win – $1,179,123 – *Did not make it to the tournament.
5. Connecticut – $21,554,604 – (24-11) – Cost per win – $898,109 – Made it to the Round of 32.
6. Arkansas – $21,254,027 – (22-14) – Cost per win – $966,092 – Made it to the Sweet 16.
7. Michigan State – $21,009,976 – (30-7) – Cost per win – $700,333 – Made it to the Elite 8.
8. Kentucky – $20,787,671 – (24-12) – Cost per win – $866,153 – Made it to the Sweet 16.
9. Auburn – $20,535,097 – (32-6) – Cost per win – $641,722 – Made it to the Final Four.
10. Louisville – $19,884,419 – (27-8) – Cost per win – $736,460 – Lost in the First Round to Creighton.
11. Kansas – $19,732,079 – (21-13) – Cost per win – $939,623 – Lost in the First Round to Arkansas.
12. Illinois – $18,619,676 – (22-13) – Cost per win – $846,349 – Made it to the Round of 32.
13. Mississippi – $18,228,378 – (24-12) – Cost per win – $759,516 – Made it the Sweet 16.
14. UCLA – $17,799,741 – (23-11) – Cost per win – $773,902 – Made it the Round of 32.
15. North Carolina – $16,813,590 – (23-14) – Cost per win – $731,026 – Lost in the First Round to Mississippi.
16. Virginia – $16,684,746 – (15-17) – Cost per win – $1,112,316 – *Did not make it to the tournament.
17. Texas Tech. – $16,600,424 – (28-9) – Cost per win – $592,872 – Made it to the Elite 8.
18. Rutgers – $16,096,898 – (15-17) – Cost per win – $1,073,127 – *Did not make it to the tournament.
19. Minnesota – $15,668,467 – (15-17) – Cost per win – $1,044,564 – *Did not make it to the tournament.
20. Florida State – $15,064,639 – (17-15) – Cost per win – $886,155 – *Did not make it to the tournament.

So out of these 20 heavily-funded, basketball programs, 14 of them participated in March Madness…that’s 70%.

What does that say about the six schools with Top 20 budgets that didn’t even make The Big Dance?

And this is before a single dollar went directly to the athlete (NIL).

Not every school can operate like Central Connecticut State, who finished with a 23-7 overall record and whose basketball operating expenses were only $1,256,115 with an average win cost of $54,614, which was the lowest in the country.