Alabama led all public SEC football programs in reliance on donations for Fiscal Year 2024, according to data from financial reports submitted to the NCAA by the league’s 15 public schools. AL.com obtained the reports via a series of open records requests.

The Crimson Tide football program brought in 38.2% of its FY 2024 revenue via contributions from donors. The Fiscal Year ran from July 1, 2023 through June 30, 2024.

Alabama outpaced second-place Tennessee, which counted on donations for 35.7% of its football revenue. Auburn ranked eighth among the 15 public schools, with 29.9% of its football dollars coming from contributions.

The Crimson Tide moved up from third place in Fiscal Year 2023, when it had counted on contributions as 33% of its football revenue. Auburn ranked seventh in FY 2023, at 25.7%

Three schools, Kentucky, Mississippi State and Arkansas, did not list any football-specific donations on their FY 2024 reports. Among the schools that did, Missouri relied on contributions the least, with 10.9% of its revenue coming from donations.

Across all sports, both the Tide and Tigers were further down the list. Taking into account all athletic department revenue, Georgia was most reliant on donors, with 41.9% of its revenue coming from contributions.

Texas was second, at 40.3%, and was the only other public school in the league to top the 40% mark. Alabama was sixth, with 32.1% of its athletics revenue coming from donations.

Auburn ranked 12th, at 23.4%. Only two schools had less than 20% of their athletics revenue come through contributions, those being South Carolina (18.4%) and Arkansas (17.1%).

It’s in the actual dollars where the SEC’s financial disparities become more obvious. In the football-only contributions, Texas led the way at $63.3 million.

Excluding the three schools that did not report football-specific donations, Missouri brought up the rear. The Tigers reported $6.1 million in the category, over $10 million behind South Carolina, the next closest school.

Alabama ranked second in football-only gifts, at $53.5 million. Tennessee ranked one spot below the Tide, at $53.2 million.

Auburn sat seventh in the league, with $36.2 million in football contributions.

Texas also topped out the SEC in contributions for all sports. The Longhorns reported $133.9 million in total donations, which was more than Mississippi State’s total athletics revenue in FY 2024, which came to $127.2 million.

Georgia came in a distant second place, reporting $101.3 million in contributions. Alabama was fifth, with $75.3 million, an increase from FY 2023, when it reported nearly $49 million in the category.

Texas A&M, which had led the SEC with $115.4 million in contributions last fiscal year, was down to third place, with $88.6 million.

Auburn was 10th in the SEC for FY 2024 contributions, with $45.4 million. The Tigers had reported $41.5 million in FY 2023.

Arkansas brought in the least FY 2024 donations, at $29.2 million. The Razorbacks were the lone public SEC program below $30 million, with Mississippi State reporting $30.8 million in the category.