AP has an article on the use of state funds for college athletics. That got me to wonder how many FBS public athletic departments actually do receive direct government support. To answer this, I looked up the Direct Government Support financial numbers from the Membership Financial Reporting System reports since fiscal year 2015 (or academic year 2014-2015) to fiscal year 2025 (or academic year 2024-2025), which is the most recent data available.
Below is a chart of the number of FBS athletic departments receiving direct government support. Note the spike during the COVID-19 season (FY 2021). As you can see other than the COVID-19 season the number of FBS athletic departments receiving government funding is on a slight upward trend over the last few years, but is not that much different than prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. Will this change with the new "revenue sharing" model? Time will tell.
Here's a list of the 105 public universities included in the analysis: Akron, Alabama, Appalachian State, Arizona, Arizona State, Arkansas, Arkansas State, Army, Auburn, Ball State, Boise State, Bowling Green, Buffalo, California, Central Michigan, Cincinnati, Clemson, Colorado, Colorado State, Connecticut, East Carolina, Eastern Michigan, Florida, Florida Atlantic, Florida International, Florida State, Fresno State, Georgia, Georgia Southern, Georgia State, Georgia Tech, Hawaii, Houston, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Kent State, Kentucky, Louisiana LaFayette, Louisiana Monroe, Louisiana Tech, Louisville, LSU, Marshall, Maryland, Massachusetts, Miami (Ohio), Michigan, Michigan State, Middle Tennessee State, Minnesota, Mississippi, Mississippi State, Missouri, Navy, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, New Mexico State, North Carolina, North Carolina State, North Texas, Northern Illinois, Ohio, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Old Dominion, Oregon, Oregon State, Penn State, Purdue, Rutgers, San Diego State, San Jose State, South Alabama, South Carolina, South Florida, Southern Mississippi, Tennessee, Texas, Texas A&M, Texas State, Texas Tech, Toledo, UAB, UCF, UCLA, UNLV, Utah, Utah State, UTEP, UTSA, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Washington, Washington State, West Virginia, Western Kentucky, Western Michigan, Wisconsin, Wyoming.
Some FBS schools are missing since they are private such as Boston College, Duke, Notre Dame, USC etc. Some are missing due to incomplete data: Air Force, Jacksonville State,Memphis, Troy. Some are missing since they were not in the FBS the entire time period: Coastal Carolina, Idaho, James Madison, Kennesaw State, etc.
