The NCAA spent $61.5 million in legal fees in the year that ended in August 2023, according to the organization’s most recent 990 tax filing, as it continued to defend its business model in the face of multiple antitrust lawsuits.
The $61.5 million is the organization’s second-highest annual total in at least the last 12 years, and likely its second highest total ever. The NCAA reported $53 million in fiscal 2022, $52.5 million in 2021 and $67.7 million in 2020. Going back a decade—before the bulk of the antitrust lawsuits took hold—it was typical for the organization to spend less than $10 million.
The NCAA’s five highest-paid independent contractors were all law firms, according to the filing. They include Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe ($16.7 million) and Bryan Cave LLP ($5.7 million).
The document also provides insight into former president Mark Emmert’s compensation in his final years on the job. Emmert, who agreed to step down effective June 30, 2023, was paid $3.3 million in the in the 2022 calendar year, including $2.8 million in base pay, comparable to his pay the prior year. The document also says that Emmert received another $4.3 million in severance when he left in June 2023. That number will be reflected in next year’s tax return.
Stan Wilcox, the NCAA’s executive vice president for regulatory affairs, and recently retired chief medical officer Brian Hainline were the only other NCAA executives that made over $1 million. Wilcox was paid $1.5 million in total compensation; Hainline as paid just over $1 million.
The organization reported record $1.26 billion in revenue, fueled largely by its annual TV contracts with CBS and Turner for the men’s basketball tournament. Sportico has detailed more about the organization’s revenue and expenses in its coverage of the NCAA’s annual audited financial statements.
The NCAA’s total employee base continues to drop. It was 591 in calendar year 2022, down from a high of 657 in 2019. It had been 600-plus in every year from 2013 to 2020.
(This story has been corrected to specify the time frame of Emmert’s $3.3 million in compensation. It was in the 2022 calendar year, not fiscal year).
