Pac-12may be back, but not all revenue will be
The return of football isn’t likely to make a dramatic dent in the losses athletic departments across the Pac-12 will ultimately incur because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Faced with large budget shortfalls, most schools in the league have already resorted to layoffs, furloughs, and cutting some sports entirely.
At Utah, football coach Kylewhittingham and basketball coach Larry Krystkowiak took salary cuts to helpoffset up to$60million in projected losses. Athletic director Mark Harlan said the Utes are still dealing with “significant financial challenges.”
One reason: as of now, none of the Pac-12 football games will have fans in attendance. That said, any help — like television revenue — is welcomed.
“Obviously, we have a chance to have more revenue than maybe we would have thought of a fewweeks ago. So we’re going to continue to adhere to our budget and into all the policies thatwe put in place tomanage our way through this, knowing that there couldbe a light here at the end of the tunnel thatwe’ll havemore revenue that we weren’t necessarily counting on,” Harlan said.
Thepandemic shut down sports in March, including the NCAA basketball tournaments. With no March Madness, the NCAA was short $375 million in the money scheduled to be distributed to its member schools, whichwere already facing questions about enrollment levels and tuition shortfalls.
Following the cancellationof all spring sports, the league decided on Aug. 11 to postpone all fall andwinter
sportsuntil after the first of next year.
But a deal with Quidel, a California-based diagnostic healthcare manufacturer, for a daily rapidresults coronavirus testing programhelped put the football season— by far the biggest revenue generator in college sports — back on track.
The league will open a seven- game, conferenceonly football season on Nov. 7.
Arizona athletic director David Heeke insisted that discussions to restart athletics centered around athletes, and not budgets.
“Without fans, there is a tremendous challenge. We’re glad to be playing, glad to have the opportunity, but we are still significantly short on revenue and that’s goingtobeachallenge for us going forward as an organization,” Heeke said.
Arizona has estimated $60 million to $65 million in revenue losses. The Wildcats are looking at a 10% budget cut for their sports programs and a 15% cut for all administrative programs. The university also has implemented schoolwide salary cuts and furloughs.
Oregon President Michael Schill, chairman
of the Pac-12 CEO group, echoed that the return of football is by no means going tomakeup the shortfall.
“The losses that our schools are encountering— particularly in our athletic department— are huge. The amount of money that will be paid as a result of going back to play is tiny in comparison to the losses,” Schill said.
At California, the athletic department forecast as much as a $55 million deficit this fiscal year and had mapped out steps to mitigate the losses while still supporting athletes — including hiring and meritpay freezes; voluntary pay cuts for coaches and administrators, and other budget cuts.
“Now that sports are on track to resume, there will be some relief. I want to emphasize that while I’m certainly cognizant of the financial implications of returning tocompetition, they didnotplay a role in thedecision,” Cal athletic director Jimknowltonsaid. “Wehad a plan to meet our budget targets with a $50-55 million loss, so any new revenue is going to help us offset any deficit. We must remain very careful with our expenses and be as conservative and efficient as possible this year.”