Fact✓Check |UK football spending falls below SEC average, data shows

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WKYT) — The University of Kentucky will open its football season with a home game Saturday. A WKYT Investigates review of athletics spending found UK trails most Southeastern Conference teams.

WKYT’s parent company, Gray Television’s national investigative team used Knight-Newhouse data to compare Kentucky with 14 other SEC schools.

Spending comparison across the SEC

Texas led the conference in athletics spending at $375.9 million, followed by Tennessee at $288.2 million. Kentucky did not rank in the top half of the conference in athletics spending.

Data from InvestigateTV shows Kentucky spent $188.3 million in the 2024-25 school year. The conference average was $224.1 million per school last year, meaning Kentucky trailed the SEC average by about 16%. Mississippi State spent the least in the conference, at $164.5 million.

Football’s share of the budget

Football accounted for 22% of Kentucky’s total athletics budget, below the SEC average of 27% for football. WKYT reported this is likely due to Kentucky’s spending on other sports, including basketball.

WKYT reached out to the University of Kentucky about the findings.

UK Athletics Director J Batt released a statement on athletics funding:

“We compete in the most competitive conference in college athletics. Everyone in the SEC is striving toward the same goal: providing a world-class student-athlete experience and competing at the highest level.

At Kentucky, we are committed to being responsible stewards of our resources while continuing to invest strategically in our people, our programs and our future.

Ultimately, we believe success is measured by results. Our teams have won conference and national championships, our student-athletes continue to excel in the classroom, and this department has helped support broader university priorities that benefit the entire institution.

Where others may see gaps, we see opportunity. We are competing at a high level today, and we see tremendous opportunity to continue strengthening Kentucky Athletics in the years ahead. We are already making progress by identifying new revenue opportunities, growing engagement through initiatives such as Champions Blue, creating innovative partnerships and finding smarter ways to invest in the areas that matter most to competitive success.

We are incredibly bullish about Kentucky’s future and are focused on building on the strong foundation already in place. Our focus is on positioning Kentucky Athletics for sustained success, and we believe our best days are ahead."