How much University of Tennessee could lose if 2020 football season is canceled

Tennessee athletic director Phillip Fulmer is optimistic that football and fall sports will take place in the wake of cancellations due to the coronavirus.

But if the college football season was canceled or shortened, Tennessee faces the loss of a hefty revenue stream.

Tennessee football generated an average of $100.4 million revenue in the past five fiscal years, starting in 2015 and ending in 2019. 

"So much depends on the next couple of months and how that looks and how we get through it," Fulmer said on "The Paul Finebaum Show" on Tuesday. "But none of us have the answer, and somebody would be lying to you if they said they did.

"We all want it to turn out well and us all to get back to normal, but there's those challenges in front of us and this is unprecedented." 

It is unclear what portion of revenue would be lost if the college football season was affected by the coronavirus, which led to the cancellation of spring sports across the country and halted winter NCAA championships. Ticket sales, game day revenues such as parking and concessions, bowl game payouts and similar sources would likely be wiped out.

The Vols had $96.1 million in revenue in the 2019 fiscal year, which stretched from July 30, 2018 to June 30, 2019. The football revenue accounted for 66.9 percent of Tennessee's total athletic department revenue.

Tennessee, which had seven home games in the 2018 season, netted $29 million from football ticket sales and $26.3 million from contributions, which includes the required donation tied to most season-ticket purchases. 

UT also garnered more than $15 million from media rights, which includes the SEC Network and in-house media, and more than $8 million from SEC distributions, including postseason splits.

Tennessee spent $52.7 million on operating the football program in the 2019 fiscal year. That figure would drop in the event of a canceled season, although it includes fixed costs such as scholarships and staff salaries.

Tennessee began selling beer and wine at football games starting with its second home game in the 2019 season. UT generated more than $730,000 in revenue after splitting evenly with Aramark, Tennessee's concessionaire. That figure will be reflected on the 2020 fiscal year.

Tennessee football also has a tremendous impact on the local economy. 

A May 2016 report conducted by Tripp Umbach, a national leader in economic impact research and analysis, found Vols football has a $355.7 million annual economic impact on Knox County. 

Hotels see $73.9 million in annual effects from UT football, while restaurants and bars get $82.5 million, according to the study.

According to the study, 2,611 local jobs result directly from UT football’s impact, and another 1,210 jobs come from its secondary effects.

Knox County residents spend an average of $55 on football game days, while visitors from out of state are likely to spend $308, according to the study. That translates to $18.6 million in state and local taxes, not counting ticket sales.

A USA TODAY Sports analysis of schools’ financial reports to the NCAA shows at least $4.1 billion in fiscal-year revenue for the athletics departments at just the 50-plus public schools in the Power Five conferences — an average of more than $78 million per school — is at stake.

That’s more than 60 percent of the schools’ combined total annual operating revenues, based on amounts reported for the 2019 fiscal year, the USA TODAY analysis found.

Mike Wilson covers University of Tennessee athletics. Email him at michael.wilson@knoxnews.com and follow him on Twitter @ByMikeWilson. If you enjoy Mike’s coverage, consider a digital subscription that will allow you access to all of it.