During the 2024-2025 school year, Drexel spent $31 million on their athletic program, which fields 18 Division 1 teams. This is up from the 2023-2024 school year, when the department spent $28 million.
Every Oct. 15, the federal government mandates that universities that receive aid report financial data about their athletic programs. This law is known as the Equity in Athletics Disclosure Act. Drexel maintains their report on the athletics website.
Drexel’s EADA report covers information about overall expenses, operating expenses, athlete participation, coaching salaries, student aid, and recruiting. This information paints a clear picture of how the department spent money.
Here is a full breakdown of how the $31,054,724 was spent.
Total expenses are the largest cost, accounting for $22 million. This category includes operating expenses, student aid, coaching salaries, promotional activities, and other team-specific costs.
The five teams with the highest overall expenses are:
- Men’s Basketball: $3,099,674
- Women’s Basketball: $2,488,133
- Men’s Lacrosse: $1,792,762
- Men’s Rowing: $1,723,893
- Women’s Lacrosse: $1,465,488
The five teams with the most expenses have not changed from last year’s EADA report, however, the costs for Women’s Basketball decreased by $524,000. Other notable changes from the previous year include Women’s Field Hockey ($221,000 increase), Men’s Rowing ($141,000 increase), and Men’s Swim and Dive ($234,000 increase).
Despite a considerable change in costs for specific teams, the overall spending for the men’s and women’s teams remained similar to the 2023-2024 school year. The nine men’s teams cost $11.7 million, and the nine women’s teams had $10.3 million in expenses.
Operating expenses are part of the total expenses at $3,049,525. These costs are related to athletes competing in events and include “lodging, meals, transportation, uniforms, equipment, and officials.” They are calculated by team, per person. The top five teams with the highest operating expenses are as follows:
Top five operating expenses per person:
- Men’s Basketball: 14 participants, $38,755
- Women’s Basketball: 24 participants, $18,197
- Women’s Softball: 19 participants, $9,618
- Men’s Golf: 11 participants, $9,257
- Men’s Wrestling: 37 participants, $6,468
Top five operating expenses per team:
- Men’s Basketball: $542,571
- Women’s Basketball: $436,720
- Men’s Lacrosse: $325,837
- Men’s Wrestling: $239,320
- Men’s Rowing: $211,198
Out of the five sports with the most costs per team, four teams had significant changes from last year. These include Women’s Basketball ($175,000 decrease), Men’s Lacrosse ($25,000 increase), Men’s Rowing ($72,000 increase), and Men’s Wrestling ($56,000 increase).
Additional notable differences from the previous year include Women’s Soccer ($119,000 decrease) and Women’s Rowing ($126,000 decrease). Both of these sports were in the top five operating expenses last year.
The biggest expense in the total expense category is student-athletes’ aid. The number of scholarships per sport is dictated by the NCAA, but it is up to Drexel to determine how much each player receives. Aid can vary from a few hundred dollars to a full scholarship.
The total amount of financial aid given to athletes was $11,955,492 which separates to $6,066,159 for the men’s teams and $5,899,333 for the women’s teams. The ratio breakdown is 51 and 49 percent, respectively.
Expenses unrelated to a specific sport are classified as not-allocated expenses. This includes costs for salaries of the athletic director, weight room trainers, and staff members. Other items in this category include NCAA and CAA fees and administration costs. Drexel spent $9,092,606 on not-allocated expenses, up almost $2.9 million from the previous year.
The last primary cost for the department is coaches’ salaries. Across all teams, there are 18 head coaches and 41 assistant coaches. For head coaches, the average salary is $139,440 for men’s teams and $112,511 for women’s teams. The average salary for assistant coaches is $47,531 for men’s teams and $47,069 for women’s teams.
Salaries for individual coaches are not part of this report. However, Drexel’s 2024 tax documents show that Zach Spiker, head coach of the Men’s Basketball team, made $467,242 last fiscal year.
The full 2024-2025 EADA report is located on the Drexel Athletics website, and more information on last year’s report can be found on The Triangle.