One alumnus got tired of watching his school spend half a billion dollars on sports it can’t win and decided to make it a legal problem

A Rutgers alumnus has filed a class-action lawsuit against the university seeking to stop what he describes as wasteful spending by an athletic department that has accumulated over half a billion dollars in debt since joining the Big Ten Conference. The complaint, filed April 1, 2026, in Middlesex County Superior Court, names President William Tate, the Board of Governors, and the Board of Trustees as defendants. As detailed by BroBible, the plaintiff is alleging gross negligence and a systemic misuse of public resources.

Hector Rodriguez, an attorney, former judge, and member of the Rutgers Class of 1975, argues that the continued use of public funds to cover athletic deficits violates New Jersey law. His core claim is that the subsidization of losses at this scale amounts to an unlawful diversion of taxpayer money. Attorney Bruce Nagel, representing Rodriguez, stated the goal is to stop wasteful spending and finally get accountability from the university.

Since Rutgers joined the Big Ten in 2014, the athletic department has accumulated a $516 million deficit. The department reported a record $78 million shortfall for the 2024-25 academic year alone. The Big East’s collapse was a key driver of Rutgers’ move to the Big Ten, a decision intended to secure the school’s athletic future, but one that has proven extraordinarily costly with little competitive return.

The on-field results make the spending even harder to defend

The football program has posted a 52-93 record over 12 seasons, going 2-2 in bowl appearances. The men’s basketball team made the NCAA Tournament in 2021 and 2022 but collected only a single win across both appearances. The women’s team has reached March Madness three times since the transition, also with just one win to show for it. No Rutgers team has won an NCAA-sponsored championship since the men’s fencing program in 1949.

The lawsuit is seeking more than a halt to current spending. Rodriguez is asking for an independent financial audit of the athletic department, a court ruling requiring legislative approval for future athletic expenditures, and restitution to the state for any funds deemed to have been improperly used. The legal dispute adds to a broader pattern of sports-related litigation drawing attention this week, including Tank Davis’s $20 million countersuit filed after he was accused of a violent incident in Miami.

Rutgers spokeswoman Dory Devlin declined to comment on the pending litigation but said the university would respond through the legal process. She offered context, noting that while Big Ten membership brought major revenue growth, costs tied to talent, infrastructure, coaching salaries, and student-athlete resources have outpaced that revenue.

Devlin also stated that Rutgers’ athletic spending ranks 11th out of 18 Big Ten teams and accounts for roughly 3% of the university’s $6 billion budget. President Tate added that the reported deficit figures reflect NCAA accounting conventions and suggested that university funding, state support, and student fees should be counted as revenue rather than subsidies.

The numbers, however, tell a different story when those subsidies are removed. Rutgers reported $1.356 billion in operating expenses against $1.165 billion in operating revenue since joining the Big Ten, but 28% of that revenue figure came from subsidies: $138.1 million in student fees, $146.2 million in direct university support, and $42.1 million in state funding. Stripping those out produces the $516 million deficit figure, the largest in the Big Ten by a significant margin. Over the past four years, Rutgers received more combined state, university, and student-fee support than any other Big Ten school, totaling $109.6 million.

Most Big Ten schools rely on some level of subsidy, but only three of the conference’s 13 non-west-coast public schools received state budget funding over the same four-year period: Illinois at $29.6 million, Rutgers at $27.2 million, and Wisconsin at $6.2 million. Athletic spending represented 3.67% of Rutgers’ total budget in 2024-25, the seventh-highest rate among the Big Ten’s 16 public schools, a figure at odds with the university’s own framing. Amid the Rutgers controversy, Jaden Ivey’s abrupt departure from the Bulls after his Instagram post about Pride Night was also generating discussion this week about the costs and consequences of decisions made by athletes and institutions alike.

Rutgers recently hired Keli Zinn, a former LSU administrator, as its new athletic director. She takes over following the resignation of Pat Hobbs, who stepped down over an undisclosed relationship with a gymnastics coach at the university. The lawsuit was filed on April 1, 2026, and the university has confirmed it will respond through the legal process.