Kirby Smart is concerned football spending could ‘ruin all the other sports’

Smart didn’t disagree, noting how football spending threatens to disrupt a collegiate athletics model that has had his program generate funds to support athletes competing in other sports.

UGA’s 2025 NCAA financial report revealed football generated $38.9 million of the school’s $42.1 million in ticket revenue and took in $44.1 million of the $52.1 million in contributions.

Smart is fine with football sharing its riches to support other programs — his wife, Mary Beth, played collegiate basketball at Georgia.

“Kirby has been consistent in his support of our athletic programs. You see him at men’s and women’s basketball games, and you see him at baseball and tennis,” UGA President Jere Morehead said Tuesday. “He shows his support for all of our other sports, which I think is very unusual for a head football coach.

“He’s a Georgia alum, so he’s loyal to our institution.”

Smart is also convinced that non-revenue sports provide a value worth protecting in a landscape that President Donald Trump referred to as “an out-of-control financial arms race” during a White House summit of collegiate leaders in April.

“People can say, ‘Well, that’s just the way it is,’ (but) I don’t agree with that because we fund Olympic sports in our program, we develop Olympians,” Smart said of the need for colleges to field non-revenue sports.

“We (football players) go to class with people that go throw a javelin, or a person that swims and dives. You learn culture by being with those people.”

Smart acknowledged collegiate sports has its cynics where the academic arm is concerned, but he’s no less passionate sharing his ideals for a well-rounded athletics department.

“We’re talking about student-athletes, which most of y’all would argue in this room, that there is no student in the athlete,” Smart said. “I still think the best thing for a young student is to go get a degree and train to be a professional while also training to be a professional athlete.

“We’re gonna lose that if we keep spending, because not everybody can spend at the rate we’re spending now.”

Smart doesn’t have the answers for how to control the spending, suggesting that even if limits were put in place, there’s no guarantee all programs would stay within the guidelines.

“There is a limit in revenue sharing, technically — there is but there’s not, right?” Smart said. “So, what’s gonna change that if you put a limit on it?”

Smart said comparisons to professional sports models aren’t helpful because of the inherent differences in collegiate athletics, which does not have the same antitrust protections or labor unions in place.

“Everybody’s gonna talk about pro sports and baseball ... we are like them, but we’re not like them,” Smart said. “So, you can’t make comparison because of the CBA (collective bargaining agreement) and the regulatory agencies they have that govern their (sports).

“They operate under a different premise. But we’re becoming them. Our spending is rapidly becoming them.”