Texas athletics department posts historic year of revenue, expenses

If money talks, then Texas had the loudest voice of 2017.

The Longhorns' athletics department had a banner year financially, becoming the first Division I public school to surpass the $200-million mark in both operating revenue and expenses in the same fiscal year, according to Steve Berkowitz of USA TODAY Sports, citing Texas' annual financial report to the NCAA.

The report was provided to USA TODAY Sports by the university in response to an open-records request. Texas' fiscal year for 2017 ended Aug. 31, 2017, according to Berkowitz.

In the report, Texas had nearly $215 million in operating revenue and $207 million in operating expenses. The revenue total is the second-largest single-year amount reported by a Division I school, trailing only the $241 million reported by Oklahoma State in 2006.

The annual expenses total is the largest ever in the 13 years that USA TODAY Sports has been collecting data, according to Berkowitz. The previous high was also set by Texas in 2015 with a total of $173.2 million.