Arkansas may not have been very good on the football field the last few seasons but their results cannot be blamed on a lack of fuel.
That’s because no public school in the nation spend more feeding its athletes than Arkansas over the previous two seasons according to Derek Saul of Forbes. In total, Arkansas spent $3.5 million on food for its athletes between 2016 and 2017 — those years represent the latest years in which financial records have been made public. Ohio State ranks second on the list with $3.1 million spent on food for its athletes.
At Arkansas, even non-scholarship players are fed two meals a day free of charge.
“We spend a lot of money on it,” says Arkansas’ Director of Sports Nutrition Karla Horfsal told Forbes. “We understand how important it is to invest in our student-athletes, and that’s one area where it’s not like we’re making money back by feeding our athletes. I know for me personally, that’s something to be proud of, and I know that that’s something that our entire department really supports. They really appreciate the role of nutrition, and I’d like to think that that’s the growing trend across the country as far as college athletics.”
Here is a breakdown of the Southeastern Conference schools that rank in the top 20 nationally on food to feed its athletes and how much each spent between 2016 and 2017:
- #1 Arkansas: $3.5 million
- #5 Texas A&M: $2.7 million
- #9 Tennessee: $1.9 million
- #11 Georgia: $1.7 million
- #14 Auburn: $1.5 million
A graduate of the University of Tennessee, Michael Wayne Bratton oversees the news coverage for Saturday Down South. Michael previously worked for FOX Sports and NFL.com
