The World Athletics governing body secured a 15% rise in revenue year-on-year during the 2025 financial year, boosted by a slight increase in commercial income.
Like-for-like revenue, excluding the Olympic Dividend, which is received once every four years, totaled $69.2 million over the course of last year. The equivalent 2024 figure came to $59.8 million.
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The Monaco-based global body’s expenditure remained relatively flat at $79.4 million despite increased investment across the sport.
When the Olympic Dividend is taken into consideration, World Athletics said it is running “a balanced budget over the four-year cycle.”
Broadcast and commercial rights, including profit share, contributed 77.5% of World Athletics’ revenue during the year.
Commercial revenue was up 4% from 2024 to $53.7 million last year, while ‘other revenue’ dropped significantly to $15.6 million given the non-recurrence of the $39.6 million in Olympic income delivered to World Athletics for Paris 2024. The body posted a $20.3 million profit in 2024.
World Athletics received $16.7 million and $13 million from broadcast rights and commercial rights, respectively.
The rise in commercial revenue was helped by increased value-in-kind from sponsors of $8.5 million, up 27%. However, there was a smaller increase of 3% in the commercial rights profit share, generating $14.2 million.
Key commercial partnerships announced last year were tied to the 2025 World Athletics Championships that took place in Tokyo, including a deal with Japan Airlines.
World Athletics’ international rights are sold by Japanese agency Dentsu as part of its 10-year agreement that ends in 2029.
Under that deal, Dentsu distributes the governing body’s international sponsorship and licensing rights, as well as media rights outside Europe and sub-Saharan Africa.
In terms of broadcast deals, the European Broadcasting Union umbrella of free-to-air broadcasters on the continent holds rights to all World Athletics Series and World Athletics Championships in Europe and sub-Saharan Africa under a deal running from 2024 through 2029.
A new ticket marketing strategy implemented for the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo also generated just over $3 million for World Athletics.
Three World Athletics Series events were held during the year – the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Nanjing, World Athletics Relays in Guangzhou, and the World Athletics Championships – with a combined economic impact of more than $586 million.
The annual figures have been disclosed ahead of the inaugural World Athletics Ultimate Championship, which takes place in Budapest from September 11 to 13.
The new three-day championship, which World Athletics has invested significantly in, brings together the world’s best athletes in 28 disciplines and offers a record $10 million prize pot – the largest in athletics history.
In terms of funding for the various World Athletics member federations and area associations in 2025, meanwhile, grant funding increased by 12% to $13.4 million, while World Athletics maintained a strong cash position of $37.3 million halfway through the 2024-2027 financial cycle.
World Athletics president Sebastian Coe said: “We are no longer a summer sport spanning just a few months. We are a sport that is on show 12 months of the year.
“The 2025 World Athletics Championships in Tokyo showed us the scale of our reach with 84 countries making a final or a top-eight finish. This is an extraordinary number, the highest ever, and sets us apart from all other sport. An unprecedented global footprint.
“But these results don’t come about by chance. There is significant investment behind the scenes, both financially and through focused resources from HQ, area associations and our member federations.
“We will continue to deliver our sport with an unrelenting focus on ethics, equality, and empowerment with a large dash of transparency and integrity.”
In October 2025, World Athletics revealed that it suffered corporate theft of over €1.5 million ($1.7 million) by two of its own employees and a contracted consultant earlier that year.
The theft took place over a period of several years and was discovered during the inaugural auditing process “under a new financial leadership team.”
