Biggest FCS Football Operating Budgets (FY25)

Shoutout to Matt Brown of Extra Points. I highly encourage folks to subscribe to his newsletter for great information on off-the-field topics.

Matt recently compiled a list of FY25 football operating budgets at the Division I level with the data via the Extra Points Library.

I extracted the FCS schools and put them into another table as a good point of reference for myself and other subdivision followers. The full list with FBS schools can be found here.

For the FCS, South Dakota State led the way in FY24 at $9,620,366. However, Montana State’s football budget increased by $4,530,140 in FY25, moving from $8,847,642 to $13,377,782 to sit atop the subdivision in FY25. Montana State had a bigger football budget in FY25 than 20+ FBS teams, including teams like Northern Illinois, Wyoming, and UTEP.

NOTES: Numbers below are from fiscal year 2025 (2024 football season). Private schools and some public schools are not required to disclose this information through FOIA or open records requests. *Sacramento State and North Dakota State are moving to the FBS in 2026. Football budgets include items like scholarships, coaching staff salaries, travel expenses, equipment, stadium/facility debt, etc.

RkSchoolFootball BudgetConf1Montana State$13,377,782Big Sky2*Sacramento State$10,126,064Big Sky3Tarleton State$9,415,847UAC4South Dakota State$9,124,858MVFC5William & Mary$8,965,483CAA6Montana$8,889,687Big Sky7*North Dakota State$8,353,482MVFC8Stony Brook$8,207,986CAA9South Dakota$7,913,204MVFC10UC Davis$7,800,037Big Sky11Idaho$7,444,813Big Sky12Cal Poly$7,367,131Big Sky13Norfolk State$7,148,912MEAC14North Dakota$6,957,141MVFC15Northern Arizona$6,888,584Big Sky16Rhode Island$6,882,247CAA17Eastern Kentucky$6,787,579UAC18Chattanooga$6,626,202SoCon19Eastern Washington$6,592,060Big Sky20Stephen F. Austin$6,391,770Southland21UAlbany$6,282,323CAA22Alabama A&M$6,275,934SWAC23Morgan State$6,218,305MEAC24Maine$5,820,521CAA25Tennessee Tech$5,811,530OVC-Big South26Towson$5,810,356CAA27Austin Peay$5,733,334UAC28Northern Colorado$5,701,876Big Sky29Northern Iowa$5,681,373MVFC30Southern$5,658,093SWAC31Lamar$5,643,571Southland32Southern Illinois$5,544,857MVFC33The Citadel$5,503,440SoCon34Portland State$5,448,403Big Sky35New Hampshire$5,422,334CAA36Weber State$5,385,486Big Sky37McNeese$5,260,577Southland38VMI$5,217,980SoCon39Eastern Illinois$5,089,300OVC-Big South40Youngstown State$5,024,652MVFC41Grambling State$4,981,977SWAC42Illinois State$4,878,072MVFC43SC State$4,845,832MEAC44Indiana State$4,832,933MVFC45Idaho State$4,789,595Big Sky46NC A&T$4,788,303CAA47Prairie View A&M$4,745,975SWAC48Utah Tech$4,730,346UAC49East Texas A&M$4,712,258Southland50NC Central$4,691,602MEAC51Florida A&M$4,558,050SWAC52Jackson State$4,533,278SWAC53Alcorn State$4,455,095SWAC54UT Martin$4,426,548OVC-Big South55Central Arkansas$4,411,759UAC56Southeastern$4,351,469Southland57Southern Utah$4,298,072UAC58Western Carolina$4,120,560SoCon59Murray State$4,002,300MVFC60North Alabama$3,932,412UAC61SEMO$3,921,274OVC-Big South62West Georgia$3,715,778UAC63Western Illinois$3,514,500OVC-Big South64Nicholls$3,406,656Southland65Northwestern State$3,373,067Southland66Texas Southern$3,064,981SWAC67CCSU$2,768,117NEC68Arkansas-Pine Bluff$2,407,434SWAC69Morehead State$1,686,373Pioneer70Mississippi Valley State$1,553,420SWAC