La Plata County’s institution invested $1,657,840 on their football teams in 2024, a 7.4%% increase in funding from the previous year, according to the U.S. Department of Education.
This represents 19.8% of all money invested on sport teams at Fort Lewis College during 2024.
The average sports expenses at La Plata County have grown 78.6% since 2010.
College football is one of the biggest sports in the U.S., with some college teams eclipsing NFL teams in terms of attendance and profit.
College athletes can now be paid directly by schools after a settlement approved in early July, which also requires the NCAA to pay $2.8 billion in back damages over 10 years to athletes who played from 2016 to the present.Â
In 2022, after years of legal and legislative pressure, athletes also gained the right to profit from their names, images and likenesses through state laws and an NCAA policy change.
| Year | Football Team’s Expenditures | % from grand total sport team expenditures |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | $1,657,840 | 19.8% |
| 2023 | $1,544,315 | 20.8% |
| 2022 | $1,306,206 | 18.7% |
| 2021 | $1,029,938 | 19.4% |
| 2020 | $1,147,395 | 20.2% |
Information in this story was obtained from the U.S. Department of Education. The source data can be found here.
