Details of U.S. Soccer's budget for national teams, NWSL

The U.S. Soccer Federation has released the report from its Annual General Meeting which took place last month in San Antonio. It inclues a wide range of financial data about the organization's revenues and expenses.

You can read the full document here. I have compiled some highlights below.

First up is a table of figures for the 2016 fiscal year. There are three categories of revenue and expenses: from the national team, from other areas (i.e. youth soccer programs, operation of national training center facilities and coach and referee development), and a separate budget for the Women's World Cup.

The number on the left is what was put in the budget when it was originally written; the number in the middle is the current projection for what the final total will end up being; and the number on the right is the difference between the two.

In short: the initial projection for the federation was for a net loss of around $421,000, but instead there's a $17.7 million profit. National team-related revenue is the reason why. The budget projected national team expenses to outweigh revenue by $3.3 million, but there ended up being a $10 million surplus.

The U.S. women winning the World Cup last summer was a big factor in that swing. We see here that USSF knew going into the tournament that expenses would be greater than revenues, and that the expenses ended up being greater than projected. It's clear, though, that the jump in overall revenues more than made up for that.

As for the forthcoming fiscal year, which runs from April of 2016 through March of 2017, the AGM report includes a range of revenue and expense projections.

Overall, U.S. Soccer's revenue is derived from six categories, the fiscal year projections for which are as follows:

Broadcast and sponsorship revenue: $46.8 million

This includes revenue from the joint U.S. Soccer-Major League Soccer television deal with ESPN, Fox and Univision, as well as revenue from commercial sponsors.

Event revenue: $27.9 million

This includes ticket revenue from men's and women's national team games, merchandise revenue and so forth.

Player and membership registration: $6.0 million 

This is self-explanatory, especially to those of you in the youth soccer community who've paid the fees. The AGM budget document says: "Registration revenue is comprised of Youth, Adult and Professional membership fees. Youth participation has remained fairly consistent in recent years, so we have budgeted a fairly flat number for FY'17. Total registration for FY'17 is budgeted at $6.0M, a slight increase of $35k from the FY'16 projection"

Referee-related revenue: $3.0 million 

This is from fees for training courses and other such things. The AGM budget document says: "Referee Department revenue is driven by the annual registration activity," and notes that the $3 million figure is "a slight decrease from the FY'16 Projection due to an expected normalization in the timing of registration for referees, assessors and assignors as states adopt new, more efficient, electronic registration methods. Registration fees represent almost 99% of the total referee department revenue; the remainder is from assignor fees."

Coaching and other educational program revenue: $2.1 million

This is also self-explanatory. The AGM document says this projection is "an increase from the FY'16 projection due to continued growth of the Digital Coaching Center and a revamp of the A, B and C licenses. Course attendance and demand remain strong, and the overall licensing model is evolving to better emphasize continued education by integrating practical experience with classroom education and testing,"

Development/fund-raising revenue: $1.2 million

This is not so self-explanatory. The budget says: "The Development department's goal to engage supporters interested in investing in U.S. Soccer's mission through donations and VIP programming continues to expand. We have experienced significant growth in a short period of time."

Revenue from international games played in the United States: $5.2 million

This is self-explanatory, and also somewhat controversial for a portion of the American soccer community. USSF gets a cut of revenue from all international soccer games that are played in the United States, whether exhibitions or games of consequence, as a condition of allowing the games to take place.

Some promoters have raised objections to this over the years. The most famous is longtime soccer marketer Charlie Stillitano, who in sued USSF in 2006 on anti-trust grounds on behalf of his company, then known as ChampionsWorld. It took six years for the case to run its full course, and Stillitano ultimately lost. He later brought the ChampionsWorld property to Relevent Sports, which now runs the annual International Champions Cup series of summer friendlies. You can learn more about that in this profile of Stillitano I wrote in 2014.

The AGM document notes "the continued interest from foreign clubs and national teams to play games within the United States."

Copa América Centenario revenue: $15.0 million

Yes, you read that right. The Federation is in line to receive a huge cash injection from the mid-summer showcase that will bring 16 teams from across the Americas to U.S. shores - including here in Philadelphia.

The AGM document says that income will be from "excess funds generated from this tournament."

As for expenses, the total operating cost projection for the upcoming fiscal year - including what U.S. Soccer calls "long-term strategic investments" - is $91.2 million. There are eight categories of expenditure:

General and administrative costs: $12.5 million

This includes  personnel costs, investments for IT projects and U.S. Soccer's website investment, legal activity, and "increased investment within the Development department."

Annual general meeting, board of directors and committee expenses: $1.0 million

This is renting meeting space, hotel rooms and such.

Marketing and sponsor services: $4.8 million

This includes the much-hyped redesign of U.S. Soccer's crest, as well as costs associated with content creation, video operations and other commercial matters including retail.)

Coaching-related expenses: $4.0 million

This figure is a $750,000 increase from last year. It comes from "a revamped Coaching school model that incorporates both practical and classroom experiences, the Digital Coaching Center on-line educational platform, the launch of a new Pilot Pro License that will be the highest level license offered, and the addition of full-time professional coach educators that will increase the quality of instruction and mentoring."

Referee-related expenses: $3.1 million

This figure is a $183,000 increase from last year "due to further investment in referee ID, training, education and development, supplemented by the work that the Professional Referee Organization (PRO) is doing at the highest level of officiating. We will create a consistent stream of content for referees that focuses on video content and online learning modules, as well as examine the current assessment structure to embrace an environment with more feedback and mentoring. We are looking to align the areas of instruction, assignment and assessment to create a more holistic approach to developing referees."

Player development spending: $20.2 million

This figure is the total spending on men's, women's, boys' and girls' youth national teams.

The AGM document says U.S. Soccer has "effectively maintained a consistent structure within Youth National Team programming by minimizing administrative expenses and maximizing player training. We are now in a position to address a growing need to accelerate investment in player development programming and technical areas, including additional Youth National team age groups (U-16 & U-19 Boys & Girls), coaching staff, testing, measurements and standards."

Specifically, the budget is set for "19,224 player days and $8.8M in YNT programming," and continues: "Additionally, the Development Academy operates as a comprehensive National Team training program designed to impact all areas of the game. The program currently includes almost 7,000 players, coaches and referees. The Academy staff monitors a number of on-field program metrics, player assessments and club evaluations. Efficiencies in operations have reduced overall program expenses over the years."

There is a detailed chart which tracks spending by age group over the last few years on page 62 of the AGM document.

Development Academy and associated programming expenses: $7.0 million

This, the AGM document says, is "a major increase from prior year spend due to the expansion of the program to the U-12 age group and the introduction of the Girl's Academy in August of 2016. Both of these new programs will increase the influence and reach of U.S. Soccer's technical framework for player development. Youth Technical Development, Technical Advisors and Scouting departments continue to further player development through new educational curriculums, Training Center evaluations, assistance with national coaching schools and improving the Development Academy club environment."

Senior national team expenses: $38.2 million

This is where we get to have some fun. There are separate projections for the senior men's and women's national teams, including detailed listings of how many games each team is expected to play and what the expenses and revenues will be from each.

Let's start with the women, because they play a greater number of higher-profile games in the upcoming fiscal year than the men do. Also, because they're the reigning world champions.

First up in the women's budget is a set of two home friendlies against Colombia in April that we already know about - April 6 in East Hartford, Conn., and April 10 at Talen Energy Stadium in Chester. There's a training camp scheduled for May, then two games each scheduled for June and July before the team heads to the Olympics in August.

After coming back from Rio, there's a projection for a 10-game Victory Tour just like there was after the World Cup. It's scheduled to run from September of 2016 through January of 2017. There's no provision stated for what happens if the team doesn't win gold; I'd imagine, though, that the series of games might end up simply being re-branded.

There's then a January training camp, two home friendlies scheduled for February, and a three-game "Domestic Tournament" scheduled for March of 2017. That's likely a repeat of the "She Believes Cup" that is currently taking place with the U.S. and fellow world powers England, France and Germany.

The revenue, expense and attendance projections for those contests are as follows. Each figure is the projection for each individual game. I have done a little bit of rounding to make the numbers easier to digest:

April, June and February friendlies (each): $44 average cost per ticket; 17,000 fans; $750,000 in revenue; $286,500 in event expenses; $111,900 in team expenses; $351,000 net profit.

May and January training camps (each): $122,000 in team expenses.

July friendlies (each): $50 average cost per ticket; 24,000 fans; $1.2 million in revenue; $321,600 in event expenses; $120,300 in team expenses; $762,000 net profit.

Olympics (up to 6 games total): $250,000 in revenue; $2.1 million in team expenses; $1.857 million net loss.

Post-Olympics victory tour (each): $50 average cost per ticket; 16,000 fans; $803,000 in revenue; $300,000 in event expenses; $266,000 in team expenses; $235,000 profit.

March domestic tournament (3 games total): $47 average cost per ticket; 51,000 fans; $2.4 million revenue; $862,000 in event expenses; $367,000 in team expenses; $1.175 million profit.

Overall projections: $17.589 million in revenue; $6.228 million in event expenses; $6.295 million in team expenses; $5,188 million overall profit.

Now for the men. Their budget includes six friendlies, of which four are at home: two May and one each next January and February. The two away friendlies are scheduled for October. There are also six World Cup qualifiers, of which two are in the current round and four are in the final "Hexagonal" round. Here's the breakdown:

First May friendly: $60 average cost per ticket; 25,000 fans; $1.5 million in revenue; $294,000 in event expenses; $490,000 in team expenses; $719,000 net profit.

Second May friendly: $50 average cost per ticket; 20,000 fans; $1.0 million in revenue; $294,000 in event expenses; $490,000 in team expenses; $219,000 net profit.

September and November home World Cup qualifiers (each): $61 average cost per ticket; 25,000 fans; $1.5 million in revenue; $368,000 in event expenses; $681,500 in team expenses; $463,000 net profit.

September and November away World Cup qualifiers (each): $753,500 in team expenses.

October away friendlies (each): $75,000 revenue; $549,000 in team expensese; $474,000 net loss.

January training camp: $277,000 in team expenses.

January and February home friendlies (each): $50 average cost per ticket; 16,000 fans; $803,000 in revenue; $249,000 in event expenses; $480,000 in team expenses; $74,000 profit.

March home World Cup qualifier: $71 average cost per ticket; 25,000 fans; $1.763 million in reveneue; $422,000 in event expenses; $760,000 in team expenses; 581,000 profit.

March road World Cup qualifier: $825,000 in team expenses.

Overall projections: $9.05 million in revenue; $2.244 million in event expenses; $7.769 million in team expenses; $964,000 net loss.

Here's the direct comparison of revenues, expenses and profit/loss for the women and men:

I'm sure some of you are wondering about the ticket price projections (and perhaps quietly grumbling about how much you're going to have to fork out in the months to come). The budget document says that the ticket price and attendance projections are based on "a combination of historical data, opponent assumptions, location and recent trends in event activity."

Here are some other noteworthy items. A reminder that the "budget" number is what was projected when the budget was first set, and the "projected" number is the current expected revenue total when the fiscal year ends:

These figures include revenues and expenses from national team administration and coaches; the U.S. national Futsal, Paralympic and beach soccer teams; and the U.S. Open Cup and National Women's Soccer League.

This ties into the chart at the top of the post with the figures for the 2016 fiscal year.

Note that spending related to the Women's World Cup is separate from other spending on the women's national team.

* - I don't know why the coaching expenditure is combined. It's known that men's coach Jurgen Klinsmann's annual salary is around $3.2 million. Women's coach Jill Ellis' salary isn't known yet, but it is known that she got a new contract she received after winning the World Cup last year.

Note that the subsets of revenue and expenses do not necessarily add up to the respective totals. I've picked items that I figure are of general interest.

Note also that there are no specific lines in the budget numbers for revenue from, or expenses related to, television or other media rights.