Colorado’s lone bowl appearance in the past five years was a costly one.
An internal audit by the University of Colorado shows that the Buffaloes lost roughly $1.24 million for their trip to the 2024 Alamo Bowl. , which was dated June 4, 2026.
The audit found that CU overpaid head coach Deion Sanders and his assistants for postseason bonuses; misclassified the Alamo Bowl as a Tier 1 event rather than a Tier 2 event; and didn’t have a budget for the game to control spending.
CU had roughly $4.21 million in expenses for its trip to the Alamo Bowl, a 36-14 loss to BYU on Dec. 28, 2024, in San Antonio. The Buffs made $2.97 million in revenue, for a loss of nearly $1.24 million.
“While we did not identify intentional misconduct, we concluded that governance and control improvements for postseason athletic events are strongly recommended, resulting in an overall report rating of Significant Improvements Needed,” the report read. “We noted inconsistent application of policies; outdated, contradictory, or incomplete guidance; inadequate documentation and approval practices; and limited coordination among administrative offices for a high-visibility, resource-intensive postseason event.”
It is common for schools to lose money on bowl appearances. LSU, for example, lost roughly $1.28 million for its trip to the Reliaquest Bowl in 2023, according to a . That same report showed that Wyoming lost $1.23 million for its trip to the 2023 Arizona Bowl and Tennessee lost $1.21 million for its 2023 trip to the Citrus Bowl.
CU, however, said it will use the audit to improve on its budgeting for future bowl appearances. CU has appeared in just three bowl games in the past 18 seasons, all three at the Alamo Bowl, in 2016, 2020 and 2024.
“Reviews such as these are valuable tools for CU Athletics to identify areas and processes that are working as well as opportunities for improvement,” CU athletics said in a statement provided to the Daily Camera. “The findings of this audit are indicative of the excitement of the Athletic Department and university for making a bowl game while providing essential feedback for how we can improve our preexisting processes and implement new policies that will help us reflect best practices in the future.
“We are committed to implementing all of the suggestions outlined in the audit starting this August as we provided in our management response, in order to make our procedures for football postseason play more efficient and transparent, while also working with various campus offices to ensure compliance and proper oversight.”
According to the audit, CU treated the Alamo Bowl as a Tier 1 bowl, when it should have been treated as a Tier 2 game, and that the university did not have a “formally approved budget, resulting in decentralized spending, limited financial oversight, and expenses exceeding bowl revenues.”
For example, CU spent $945,053 to send 210 band and spirit members to the game. Under Tier 2 bowl guidelines, that number is limited to 50, which would have cost an estimated $198,541, per the audit. That extra $746,512 made up more than half of the net loss.
The audit determined that had CU operated with a Tier 2 designation on the Alamo Bowl, expenses would have been roughly $3.38 million, reducing the net loss to $409,535.
CU also overpaid Sanders and his assistants in bonuses by $121,333. Sanders had a clause in his contract that provided a bonus of $150,000 for leading CU to a non-New Year’s Six bowl game and $200,000 for taking it to a New Year’s Six bowl. The Alamo Bowl is not a New Year’s Six game, yet Sanders received a $200,000 bonus.
