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The Eck effect, and the athletic department鈥檚 all-out blitz promoting Lobo football's first-year coach, paid off at the gate.

And while a much less-aggressive promotion of first-year coach Eric Olen鈥檚 men鈥檚 basketball team, and scaled-back media access to the unknown roster, led to ticket sales falling modestly short of projections in the Pit, it was still by far the leading economic driving force behind what UNM is projecting as roughly $5.7 million in ticket revenue for the 2025-26 academic and fiscal year.

鈥淭he success we experienced on the (football) field this season is a testament to the leadership of Coach Eck and the hard work and dedication of our student-athletes,鈥� said new Athletic Director Ryan Berryman, who was part of UNM鈥檚 all-out push last fall, along with former Athletic Director Fernando Lovo and several other senior administrators in the department who made increasing football attendance a priority.

The result: The 2025 Lobo football team led the country in year-over-year attendance increase 鈥� a 57.8% jump over the Bronco Mendenhall-coached team鈥檚 numbers of 2024 鈥� and collected $1.7 million in ticket revenue. That鈥檚 nearly $600,000 more than the $1.15 million projection, which was based on many years of dismal revenue for the program.

Still that $1,726,000 in football ticket revenue was less than half that of the Lobos men鈥檚 basketball team鈥檚 reported $3,720,000.

That number was about $400,000 less than a season ago when the familiar Donovan Dent, Nelly Junior Joseph and Richard Pitino Lobos, who won the Mountain West regular season championship and played in its second-consecutive NCAA Tournament, brought in $4,138,633.

鈥淢en鈥檚 basketball continues to be a significant revenue driver for Lobo Athletics,鈥� Berryman said. 鈥淭he slight variance from the budget is largely attributable to tip times and dates, as well as a 鈥榳ait and see鈥� approach early in the season.鈥�

Though they were worked into preseason revenue projections, UNM's home schedule did lack the typically strong crowds that come for the NM State rivalry (was only played in Las Cruces this past season), and UNLV (the Mountain West鈥檚 unbalanced schedule randomly led to UNLV not traveling to sa国际传媒官网网页入口).

Berryman said the department is optimistic the late-season momentum for men鈥檚 basketball, plus the return of Olen and three starters, will drive strong sales next season.

There is also a chance of around $80,000 coming in from NIT ticket sales for UNM that aren鈥檛 reflected in the $130,000 shortfall UNM has on the books thus far.

All NIT ticket sales belong to the NCAA, but host schools 鈥渕ay鈥� receive up to a 15% payment from the sales 鈥� a decision that is at the NIT organizer鈥檚 discretion and has not yet been determined.

Here鈥檚 a closer look at the preliminary ticket revenue numbers for the year:

UNM Athletics ticket revenue

(as of late April)

Men鈥檚 basketball

• Budget: $3,850,000

• Actual: $3,720,000

Football

• Budget: $1,150,000

• Actuals: $1,726,000

Women鈥檚 basketball

• Budget: $360,000

• Actuals: $260,000

Other sports*:

• Budget: $42,000

• Actuals: $11,500

*Volleyball only after the in-season move to not charge for Olympic sports.

The 鈥�0ther sports鈥� include volleyball revenue only. All other Olympic sports at UNM were changed to free admission this past year, but UNM had already budgeted for them to continue charging tickets.

鈥淭his decision was driven by a clear priority 鈥� to continue to make Lobo Athletics accessible to every member of our community as we work to develop lifelong Lobos,鈥� Berryman said.

Volleyball move?

Well, that free tickets thing didn't apply to volleyball.

鈥淰olleyball remains a ticketed event, and we are optimistic about its revenue growth potential based on key initiatives currently underway,鈥� Berryman said. 鈥淲e look forward to sharing more details soon.鈥�

While not finalized, the Journal has learned that the volleyball team will play most of its games in the Pit moving forward.

This will help cut back on rental charges UNM Athletics must give to the UNM main campus for the use of Johnson Center, which is primarily intended for the entire student body. Other issues with Johnson Center being the home of Lobo volleyball are a lack of in-arena video boards, no concessions and scarce parking, especially when there is seemingly never-ending construction on main campus in the area.

Lobo volleyball will still play some games in Johnson Gym under first-year coach Brian Hosfeld when scheduling conflicts with men鈥檚 and women鈥檚 basketball and the UNM spirit teams arise.

For now, most pre-November games will move to the Pit, though it seems likely all games will move to the south campus arena in the future.

It is unclear if the volleyball striping will remain on Bob King Court once basketball season starts.

Hell of a yard sale

UNM brought in $117,000 from Saturday鈥檚 鈥渟urplus sale鈥� of excess jerseys, helmets, shirts and other gear from around the athletics department held in the Lobo football indoor practice facility ahead of the Spring Game.

Reach Geoff Grammer at ggrammer@abqjournal.com or follow him on Twitter (X) .