By CAITLIN MURRAY
The U.S. Soccer Federation has released its annual external audit, showing a boost both in revenues and spending for the national teams, largely due to the World Cup campaign by the U.S. Men’s National Team.
The audit, which covered one year of financial statements ending March 31, 2014, showed spending on national teams increased overall and USMNT spending surged by $5.8 million to hit $18.7 million. The U.S. Women’s National Team saw a small drop in expenditures, down $1.2 million to $8.3 million.
Fired USWNT coach Tom Sermanni had signed a contract through Dec. 31, 2016, but new coach Jill Ellis has a shorter one, which runs through July 31, 2015. It does include optional extensions through Aug. 31, 2020, said the audit, which was filed with U.S. Soccer earlier this month.
Ellis’ base salary ranges from $185,000 to $215,000 and includes bonuses based on how well the USWNT performs at the 2015 World Cup in Canada and 2016 Olympics in Brazil.
Although last year’s audit specified USMNT coach Jurgen Klinsmann had available bonuses of $500,000 to $10.5 million, in addition to a base salary of $2.5 million, the latest audit does not specify his available bonuses. His contract ends July 31, 2018.
The agreement for U.S. Soccer to serve as manager of the National Women’s Soccer League was extended one additional year through Dec. 31, 2014, the audit said. Last year’s audit mentioned an option to extend through 2015, which is not mentioned in this audit.
NWSL spending was $671,000 for the time period covered in the audit, up from $248,000 the previous year. U.S. Soccer founded the NWSL last year to ensure USWNT players would have a domestic league to compete in.
The USWNT is still without an active collective bargaining agreement, according to the audit. A CBA expired on Dec. 31, 2012, and the women are still playing on a signed memorandum of agreement while a new CBA is negotiated. The men’s CBA expires Dec. 31, 2018.
The audit discloses U.S. Soccer has total assets of $96.9 million, which includes $7.7 million cash on hand and $62.6 million in investments.
U.S. Soccer saw a boost in the audit’s “sponsorship, television, licensing and royalties” category, which jumped from $23.5 million last year to $28.7 million. Revenues from national team games saw an increase of about $2.4 million to $24.7 million total.
U.S. Soccer collected $1.2 million in revenue from hosting the U.S. Open Cup, but spent nearly $1 million to host it, the audit said.
The committee bidding to host a World Cup in the U.S. spent $456,000.
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