For Matt Rhule’s Nebraska, the 2024 season was a tale of two scoreboards. While the one on the field often showed disappointment with a 3-6 Big Ten record, the one in the accounting office told a story of a staggering profit, proving the brand’s power transcends the box score.

Husker Online’s Sean Callahan shared the results of the FY2024 financial report. The program generated $31 million in revenue from football games, compared to $4.8 million from men’s and women’s basketball ticket sales. 

It is not unusual for college football to outmatch other sports at a program like Nebraska. The Huskers have produced similar ticketing revenue over the last four years. While FY 2020-21 was hit by COVID, the program generated $28.4 million the next year, when crowds were allowed back into stadiums. That increased to $29.1 million in FY 2022-23.

Matt Rhule joined the Huskers in the 2023 season, finishing 5-7 in his debut year with the program. However, despite on-field struggles, ticket revenue actually peaked at $32.5 million. It could have been due to the honeymoon period of the new head coach.

In 2024, the Nebraska Cornhuskers finished with a 7-6 regular-season record and a poor 3-6 conference record in the Big Ten. However, they achieved their first winning season and bowl victory since 2016 by defeating Boston College 20-15 in the Pinstripe Bowl. That season marked the debut of true freshman quarterback Dylan Raiola, as the team began 3-0 before mid-season struggles.

Interestingly, the spring game last weekend revealed that the tide may be turning really soon, after there were complaints about low attendance, the kind that has not been seen in over two decades.

“More than 27,000 fans watched the game in Memorial Stadium—the lowest attendance since 2000. It marked a return to a traditional spring game after head coach Matt Rhule opted for a skills competition instead of a spring game last year,” Nebraska Public Media reported.

Like the low turnout was not enough, the basketball team has been seeing some improvements at the expense of the football team. Attendance at the basketball regular-season games is improving rapidly, while the football team has kicked off with a poor turnout at its spring game.

However, Memorial Stadium is almost always at 100% capacity during the regular season, and that may continue next season as well.

Matt Rhule advocating for more money for Nebraska

One more way Matt Rhule has openly admitted to helping Nebraska make more money is in alcohol sales. The idea is spreading fast in college football, and Matt Rhule was Nebraska’s primary advocate for beer sales.

“I think if I go to the baseball games and I go to the basketball games, they serve beer there, right? Like, I’ve never seen an unruly crowd. I mean, we have the best fans in sports,” Rhule said. “So I think people can go have a couple beers at the game, and, you know, it’s not like it’s dollar beer night, right? I mean, it’s still like a $8 beer, something like that. I think our fans — if any fans in the country — our fans can go have a beer and a hot dog and watch the game.”

“If it’s any better, then I’ll buy the beer,” he joked.

Programs like Clemson have tried this approach and reaped the rewards. In their season opener against the LSU Tigers, they sold over 45,000 drinks and generated $467,843 in revenue. Doing this across all games would bring over $5 million. And while Rhule finds it attractive and would want to see the program surpass its $31 million mark in 2024, the sales are a beneficial way to continue, too.