UW athletic department expects big revenue shortfall for 2020-21 fiscal year
MADISON – Despite his obvious excitement to see Big Ten reverse course and opt to stage the league's 2020 football season this fall, Wisconsin athletic Barry Alvarez cautioned that decision would not solve all of UW's financial woes.
Members of UW's Finance, Facilities & Operations Committee on Wednesday learned that the athletic department still projects a revenue shortfall of between $60-70 million in the 2020-21 fiscal year.
“As different scenarios have played out, our projections have ranged from a revenue impact of $60 million to $100 million or more if football weren't to be played,” Adam Barnes, associate athletic director and CFO for business operations, told the committee. “And that $100 million or more would have been even more than that if basketball and hockey wouldn't have the opportunity to play.
“So based on where we sit today, and the assumptions we're making about how the rest of this year will play out, we are still looking at a shortage of $60 to $70 million in revenue.”
The Big Ten decided that teams will not sell football tickets this season, allowing only family members of the players and staffs in the stands. UW took in $24,661,753 in football ticket sales in 2019-20 and initially projected $25,282,000 in ticket sales for 2020-21. According to Barnes, UW will tap into unrestricted gift funds held at the UW Foundation and seek financing to help offset the lost revenue.
“Between the generosity of donors over the years and the sound management of this department's finances,” he said, “there are unrestricted gifts currently invested at the Foundation that effectively act as our reserve that will help us meet this challenge.
“Though those reserves are not sufficient to help us meet the entire challenge. We are working with the Vice Chancellor and the Chancellor's office to evaluate what opportunities we might have there.”
Jason King, senior associate athletic director for capital projects, updated the committee on two projects. UW plans to renovate Camp Randall Stadium's south end zone to offer fans more premium seating options and build an addition to the Kohl Center to improve the academic center there and offer options for sports nutrition, strength and conditioning and sports medicine.
“We have chosen to defer that project for at least a year until we get a clearer picture of what next season looks like,” King said of the end zone renovation. “The Kohl Center project… we'll be making a determination later on this fall on how we proceed with that.”