Steve Berkowitz

USA TODAY Sports

The University of Texas athletics department continues to be a college sports fiscal leviathan, but its revenue growth has taken at least a temporary breath.

Texas had $165.7 million in operating revenue and $146.8 million in operating expenses for 2012-13, according to its latest annual financial report to the NCAA. Both are highs for the school.

The report, obtained in response to an open-records request from USA TODAY Sports and Indiana University's National Sports Journalism Center, means Texas had an $8.5 million increase in annual operating expenses compared to what it spent in 2011-12 and a $2.4 million increase in revenue.

Texas' athletics department is among the few nationally that gets no revenue from student fees or institutional or state sources. The department transferred $9.2 million of its 2012-13 operating surplus to the university – up from $8.3 million in transfers in 2011-12.

The year-over-year revenue increase is the smallest that Texas has reported during the nearly 10 years for which USA TODAY Sports has compiled these data for all NCAA Division I public schools. The data set begins with the figures schools reported for the 2004-05 fiscal year. The smallest increase Texas previously had reported during this period was a $5.1 million jump from 2008-09 to 2009-10.

Nevertheless, Texas' financial might remained on display in 2012-13. Its operating expense total in all likelihood will represent another record for NCAA public schools. Through the 2011-12, Texas had recorded the four highest annual operating expense totals and three of the four highest annual operating revenue totals.

In 2012-13, contributions to Texas' athletics program declined by about $3.3 million to $37.4 million, according to the school's reports. That is just the second year-over-year decrease in contributions Texas has had during the period covered by USA TODAY Sports' data set – and it greatly exceeds the $180,000 decline that occurred 2008-09 to 2009-10.

However, Texas' $37.4 million in 2012-13 contributions is still greater than the total operating revenue that all but about 65 Division I public school athletics programs had in 2011-12.

In addition, Texas saw increases in its ticket sales revenue and the royalty and licensing revenue that includes money from the Longhorn Network.

Texas reported $60.9 million in ticket sales revenue in 2012-13 and $33.4 million in royalty and licensing revenue. In 2011-12, those figures were $59.2 million and $28.7 million, respectively.

On the expense side, Texas reported increasing its spending on coaches' pay, benefits and bonuses by about $1 million to $24.4 million – a figure that is greater than the total operating expenses of nearly 60% of the 228 Division I public school athletics programs in 2011-12. Texas' game-day expenses such as security and event staff rose by $3.1 million to $25.5 million, and its miscellaneous spending by about $3 million to $7.8 million.

Texas reported $109.4 million in football operating revenue – up from $103.8 million in 2011-12. Those figures reflect Texas crediting portions of all of its significant revenue streams to football; some schools do not report certain revenue streams on a sport-by-sport basis, instead choosing to report them as being not specific to any one team.

That approach comes into play in how Texas reports its football operating expenses – $27.1 million in 2012-13, up from $24.8 million in 2011-12. In both years, Texas attributed less than $150,000 in facilities expenses to football while reporting non-sport-specific facilities spending of $24.8 million in 2012-13, up from $23.6 million in 2011-12.