Editor’s Note: This will be the final report in the EADA budget report series. This series originally began running on Oct. 22. The first report was a summary of the total expenses used by Nevada Athletics detailed in the EADA budget report released on Oct. 15. Since then, three other stories have run detailing other portions of the EADA budget.

According to the 2018-19 EADA budget report, Nevada Athletics’ total expenses last year tallied up to $43.4 million. Of that $43.4 million, $16.3 million was put under a category labeled “Not Allocated by Gender/Sport.” At the time of the original report, it was not clear what exactly the $16.3 million was being spent on. 

Below is a summary of each expenditure according to the office of Vic Redding, Vice President of Administration and Finance at the University of Nevada, Reno. 

Athletic student aid

At a total of $209,014, athletic student aid is the tenth highest cost inside of the “Not Allocated by Gender/Sport” expenditure. 

The office of Administration and Finance summarize this spending as such.

“Student athletes with exhausted eligibility that continue to receive aid,”

Athletic student aid is already an expenditure within the base EADA report. $4,541,147 is spent on men’s student aid, $3,847,534 is spent on women’s student aid and $146,610 was spent on co-ed team aid. In the 2018-19 budget report, there was only one co-ed team on campus, rifle. The rifle program has since been disbanded. 

Guarantees

Guarantees total out at $35,605, which is tied for the thirteenth lowest spending subcategory within the “Not Allocated by Gender/Sport” category. 

According to Redding’s office, these funds go to cover guarantees by Nevada Athletics. 

The American Institute of Research defines guarantees as such.

“Guarantees are payments to visiting institutions for participation in home games,”

Support staff/administrative salaries, benefits and bonuses paid by the university and related entities

$4,731,614 is spent within this subcategory, it is the largest of any of the subcategories.

This spending goes to fund the combined personnel staff of Nevada Athletics, including Athletic Director Doug Knuth. 

According to TransparentNevada, Knuth’s total pay and benefits package totaled out at $414,800.23 in 2018. 

Positions that are covered by this expense include such departments as, Sports Medicine, Strength and Conditioning, Fundraising, Marketing, Sports Information, Business and Finance and General Administration. 

Recruiting

Along with Guarantees, recruiting expenses tally up to $35,605. 

Within the main EADA budget, recruiting is already a category. $741,139 is spent between men’s and women’s sports, with men’s getting $558,874 of that total. 

The summary from the Office of Finance and Administration summarized this subcategory as such. 

“Trade utilized to cover recruiting.”

Equipment, uniforms and supplies

The smallest spending total within the $16.3 million falls under equipment, uniforms and supplies, which comes out to a total of $31,500.

In 2018, Nevada signed a new apparel contract with Adidas after splitting with their previous partner, Nike. 

According to Nevada Sports Net, the deal will run through the 2024-25 season and is roughly worth $900,000 per year.

Game expenses

Game expenses account for $102,696 out of the total $16.3 million. As with recruiting, game expenses are already a category within the main EADA budget. 

Game expenses, or operating/game-day expenses as it’s called in the main EADA budget report, accounts for $5,947,040 of the $43.4 million total budget. 

According to the Office of Finance and Administration, game expenses can be categorized as such.

“Trade utilized to cover other game guarantees.”

Fundraising, marketing and promotions

The fifth-largest subcategory of spending falls under fundraising, marketing and promotions, which accounts for $1,530,579.

This subcategory accounts for roughly 9.4 percent of the $16.3 million in spending under “Not Allocated by Gender/Sport” category. 

Spirit groups

Spirit groups account for $338,243 of the $16.3 million in expenditures. 

The summary sent over by the Office of Finance and Administration gave no explanation as to what spirit groups are, but they’re typically categorized as such things like cheer teams.  

Additionally, spirit groups received more funding than the Nevada rifle team. Rifle received a total expense budget of $259,017 in 2018-19. 

Athletic Facility Debt Service, Leases and Rental

The fourth-largest subcategory within the “Not Allocated by Gender/Sport” category goes to Athletic Facility Debt Services, Leases and Rental. A total of $2,296,581 is spent on this subcategory.

No further explanation was given to The Nevada Sagebrush by the Office of Finance and Administration regarding this expenditure. 

Direct Overhead and Administrative Expenses

At a total of $2,517,916, Direct Overhead and Administration Expenses is the third largest expenditure within the “Not Allocated by Gender/Sport” category. 

As part of this $2.5 million subcategory, $1.5 million is transferred to the university. 

According to the Office of Finance and Administration, these funds to cover various aspects of utilities and maintenance.  

Indirect Institutional Support

The second-largest largest expenditure in the summary goes to Indirect Institutional Support, at $2,769,957.

The below statement is the explanation provided to The Nevada Sagebrush by the Office of Finance and Administration. 

“University allocates a percentage of all supporting departments on campus to ICA ($1.8M) e.g. Library, Finance, IT, etc. Also, university covers approximately $1M in academic and NCAA compliance department expenses.”

Medical expenses and medical 

A total of $538,531 is spent on medical expenses, making this the seventh-largest spending subcategory under the main “Not Allocated by Gender/Sport” category.

The official summary from the Office of Finance and Administration made it clear that this fund goes to cover all student-athletes at the university. 

Membership and dues

At a total of $490,955, membership and dues is the eighth largest expenditure within the category. 

The spending within this subcategory goes to pay the NCAA and Mountain West Conference dues. A total of $483,000 is paid to the MWC for said dues per the Office of Finance and Administration. 

Student-athlete meals

$75,342 is spent towards the meals of the various student-athletes at Nevada.

There are 186 total student-athletes at Nevada. Student-athlete meals are considered part of the operating expenses in the main EADA budget.

Other operating expenses

The remaining funds add up to $619,950, but they do not go to one direct category. 

The Office of Finance and Administration summarized this subcategory as such.

“General miscellaneous expenses that do not directly fit in one of the above categories: Largest single expense would be Adidas apparel used for promotional items at athletic events and providing athletic event staff with uniforms.”

Ryan Freeberg can be reached at rfreeberg@sagebrush.unr.edu and on Twitter @SagebrushSports.