OXFORD | Ole Miss home football game revenues fell more than $20 million, due to pandemic-related restrictions, compared to the previous season.
Guidelines that included 25 percent general seating capacity maximums and 50-75 percent premium seating maximums were unavoidable major declines from past seasons. Ole Miss fell approximately 25 percent short of what was hoped for considering the limited seating availability.
Once the state-mandated capacity rules were implemented, Ole Miss believed revenue from ticket sales, seat donations and parking could reach $12.5 million, but the season result was $9.29 million.
“I think all in all it was a very successful (home) season,” Ole Miss athletics director Keith Carter said. “Getting the five home games in was huge, even though our revenue was down a little compared to initial projections. Hopefully our fans enjoyed their in-venue experience this year, and we can get back to some normalcy before next season.”
The Rebels averaged 20 percent sales for its five home games with a season-best 23 percent against Mississippi State.
Ole Miss, while struggling to a 4-8 record with a fan base that was moderately apathetic, produced $28.7 million total revenue in those three categories in 2019.
The Rebels, courtesy of the Lane Kiffin era, expected this season to push for all-time highs in ticket sales and football revenue prior to the pandemic. That number likely would have resembled the $34.5 million from the 2015 football season or the $38.5 million from the 2016 season.
Southeastern Conference revenue, the money the league hands each year to schools mainly from television contracts and media rights deals, was 41 percent of Ole Miss’ fiscal year 2020 budget revenues at an estimated $46.3 million. The ability to play a somewhat normal season should keep a large portion of the expected amount intact, though all 71 league games not being played likely costs each team revenue.
Ole Miss (4-4) and Texas A&M don't have a date to play this season, and the Rebels are out of available weeks to play more than nine total games.
Regardless of which teams don’t get to 10 scheduled games, the total amount for the rights deals are all added up and divided into 15 equal shares — one for each school and one for the league.
