MU athletics is a major contributor to economic revenue in Columbia

In Mid-Missouri, athletics are a crowd favorite. But the black and gold means serious green for many area businesses.

The University of Missouri announced Friday that Tiger athletics are a major contributor to the economic revenue in the city.

University graduate students have been conducting a research study over the past five years to find out just how much athletics impacts Columbia’s economy.

The study found that just in the last year, athletics has brought in nearly a quarter of a billion dollars in economic impact.

That amount has nearly doubled since 2010.

Athletic Director Mike Alden said it’s because of a combination of Mizzou moving to the SEC conference as well as construction on athletic buildings.

“The improvements we make have a direct impact on the economy of Columbia,” Alden said.

Chancellor Bowen Loftin agreed.

“We’re in a very good position. We have unprecedented visibility and that brings notoriety and brand value. Our next step is to take that notoriety and turn it into economic value,” Loftin said.

Alden said to do that, people need to keep investing, the managers need to keep promoting, and the team needs to keep winning.

Tiger football is the number one money-making sector in athletics, raking in nearly $45 million last year alone.

But both Alden and Loftin said, it’s not just athletics, it’s the university as a whole.

And they both see this economic increase continuing.

“I see newly constructed sports complexes, I see more students coming to the university and more opportunities, I see increasing economic activity built around discoveries of the University of Missouri,” Loftin said.