Junjie Guo and Ananth Seshadri
Executive Summary:
- Historical Role and Recent Decline: Badger Football has historically been a cornerstone of the University of Wisconsin-Madison Athletics Department, yielding about $60 million in annual profits. However, its performance on the field has deteriorated dramatically, with winning percentages falling from over 90% in 2017 to below 50% in 2024—the lowest since 2001. The 2025 season is on track to be the program’s worst this century, marked by shutout losses and failures against ranked opponents, signaling a deepening crisis.
- Financial Repercussions for UW Athletics: Persistent poor performance threatens to cut football profits by $20 million annually—roughly one-third of current levels— endangering subsidies for other sports and straining the department’s overall operations, as evidenced by declining attendance and season ticket sales.
- University-Wide Ramifications: Beyond athletics, Badger Football’s declining performance could erode alumni donations, diminish the volume and quality of student applications, reduce research expenditures and outputs, and further depress the university’s ranking amid existing pressures like federal funding cuts and declining international enrollment.
- Economic Ripple Effects: The downturn may shrink economic activity in Madison by $160 million and statewide by $280 million each year, driven by lower game attendance, reduced visitor spending, decreased tourism, diminished merchandise sales, and weakened reputational benefits for the university and Wisconsin as a whole.
- Path Forward: Reinvigorating Badger Football is beneficial to the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the city of Madison, and the state of Wisconsin. This requires strategic investments exploiting complementarities between physical capital, e.g., upgraded facilities, and human capital, e.g., enhanced recruiting and competitive Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) spending and compensation for players and coaches.