Missouri State move to Conference USA won't be cheap. Here are ways expenses will increase

Missouri State expects to increase its athletics budget to around $36 million when it moves to Conference USA before the 2025-26 season.

A $36 million budget would be about a $5 million increase, according to MSU President Clif Smart. The school will have new revenue channels, including through the league's television and streaming deal, bowl distributions and an uptick in price for buy games.

Among the eight public schools required to submit financial reports to the NCAA that will be in CUSA in 2025, a $36 million budget would have fallen behind Florida International, Middle Tennessee State, New Mexico State and Western Kentucky for fiscal year 2023. Liberty and Delaware are not required to disclose their figures.

Here's a look at the expenses that will go up as Missouri State moves to a new conference and preaches that it will be "budget neutral" while doing so.

The cost to travel is guaranteed to increase

The cost of team travel will increase with Missouri State now playing more conference foes across the country instead of one that is regionalized. The Bears, in all sports, will take more flights to contests with league opponents like Delaware and Florida International instead of bus trips to Indiana State and Northern Iowa.

Missouri State spent north of $3.4 million in team travel in fiscal year 2023. A fellow CUSA program like Middle Tennessee spent almost $4.8 million on travel, including two-and-a-half more on its football travel than Missouri State did in the same year.

Missouri State will have to pay its coaches more if it wants to be competitive

On the football side, head coach Ryan Beard is making less money than at least one offensive coordinator in the league. Missouri State knows this and has already begun talking about boosting Beard to a competitive salary as it transitions into the league. Beard is just the beginning as assistants will need higher pay across the board.

Middle Tennessee, Florida International, Louisiana Tech and Western Kentucky each reported at least $2.7 million in coaching salaries. Missouri State reported just over $1.4 million.

Missouri State appears to be in a competitive spot in both basketballs with Cuonzo Martin recently receiving a deal that starts at $600,000 and will climb to $650,000 by year three. With the new coaching staff, it appears MSU will spend more than the four aforementioned CUSA programs.

The school also appears to be investing more in women's basketball than others around the league. Beth Cunningham is scheduled to make $350,000 when the team enters the league in 2025-26 and it wouldn't be a surprise to see her deal be extended or reworked before then.

Missouri State might be in a spot where it will need to invest more in baseball salaries as Keith Guttin heads into retirement after giving the school discounts when he's been more successful over his 42 years than he's been paid. He was paid $137,751 this past season. In comparison, Dallas Baptist, a former MVC school that left for CUSA in recent years and heavily invests in baseball, paid head coach Dan Heefner $474,498, according to the most recent publicly available tax forms for fiscal year 2022.

The cost to renovate Plaster Stadium isn't going to be cheap

Conference USA expects upgrades at Plaster Stadium. The school is in the process of making those renovations in phases.

The first will come with renovated locker rooms and weight rooms. MSU president Clif Smart said the locker room project will cost $4 million and already has $1.5 million allocated toward it from the $5 million gift from local attorney Tom Strong.

Other phases will include renovations to the west-side suites at the stadium and upgrades to the press box.

"We've got to figure out the financial part of what we're doing to help the stadium because it's something (CUSA) expects to be done," Moats said. "We knew going into it that would be our biggest challenge. We're hoping this kind of commitment from us helps our fans say 'Hey, we're going to have to help out a little bit.' We'll see how that goes. That's a big question."

More scholarships handed out will turn into more cost

A move to an FBS conference means Missouri State will have to give out 22 more football scholarships. The $1.8 million it spent on scholarships in football is going up.

Between Louisiana Tech, Florida International, Western Kentucky and Middle Tennessee, the athletic student aid cost them anywhere between nearly $2.4 million to $3.4 million.