Exclusive: Leeds Met laid out over £20m in spree on sport

Leeds Met's outlay on sporting ventures comes at a time when savage cuts are being imposed across the higher education sector. The agreements – all of which revolve around the use of the Carnegie brand name – run for several years, with one locking the university in until 2020.

The scale of the spending prompted fresh calls for an independent inquiry but Leeds Met has defended the outlay, though it did acknowledge significant changes have now been made to financial controls and strategies.

It can also be revealed that one of the deals – a 5.7m sponsorship of rugby league's showpiece Challenge Cup – began on the basis of just a draft agreement.

The final arrangement with the Rugby Football League was only confirmed after more than 1.3m had already been paid by the publicly-funded university. Leeds Met said the opportunity had come up at short notice and it had pressed ahead on the basis of legal advice.

A further 5m will be paid to sponsor Headingley rugby stadium and 600,000 is going on the naming rights to Headingley cricket ground. In addition, 370,000 is paying for the sponsorship of Yorkshire cricket's one-day team and 125,000 is going to Leeds women's football team, despite a proposed partnership deal never being signed.

Leeds Met was forced to release the figures to the Yorkshire Post after the Information Commissioner ruled the university had been wrong to withhold them following a Freedom of Information request. The commissioner said public interest outweighed claims of commercial confidentiality.

In December, it was revealed Leeds Met's failed deal to take over the city's professional rugby union club had cost a total of 10m. In all, 22m has been committed to sponsoring professional sport – all of which was agreed during the reign of former vice chancellor Simon Lee.

Mr Lee, who resigned a year ago in the wake of bullying allegations, which he denied, did not respond to a request to comment.

Retiring Harrogate MP Phil Willis, former chairman of the Commons select committee responsible for universities, said: "With universities crying out for more resources to meet the rising cost of higher education how one institution can blow 20m on glorified, egotistical self-publicity is beyond me.

"The Higher Education Minister, David Lammy, rejected my calls for an inquiry into the financial affairs of Leeds Met claiming he 'did not have the power' to intervene.

"Let us hope the next Higher Education Minister acts swiftly to ensure that student and taxpayers' money is spent on educating students not the egotistical promotion of professional sport which should manage its financial affairs more effectively."

Mr Lammy did not respond to a request to comment.

Former Leeds Met deputy vice chancellor Frank Griffiths, who blew the whistle on financial excess last year, said: "This is taxpayers' money being used to subsidise already well-paid professional sportsmen. This once again highlights the need for a proper independent investigation."

A Leeds Met spokesman said: "Over the last year, there have been significant changes in personnel, leadership, and strategy at our university. In 2009, we undertook a substantial revision of processes. Some decisions were taken within the delegated authority limits of the vice-chancellor at the time.

"We have now revised our procedures so that any such arrangements now require review and approval by the whole Board. A Partnerships Framework approved by the Audit Committee is now in place, to regulate the assessment, negotiation, reporting and approval of partnerships in order to ensure each follows a robust process from inception through to evaluation."