The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Politicians’ views on finances mixed
In addition to restoring its rich tradition on the hardwood, UConn has been trying to reenergize donors amid an economic downturn.
The school has seen a significant shortfall in the athletic department’s budget — due to a dip in revenue and an inability to land a spot in a lucrative Power Five conference, as detailed in a Hearst Connecticut Media group report.
But while leaders at the State Capitol have a mixed view of UConn’s financial state, the school’s primary fundraising vehicle is reporting record gains.
The UConn Foundation announced Tuesday it has raised $89.5 million, the highest fundraising total in its history for the fiscal year ending June 30. Of that, $26.4 million was given in support of athletics, $13.5 million of which was pledged by an anonymous donor. The overall increase was 25 percent, rising from $71.4 million the previous fiscal year.
While that will help, it eases only part of the fi
nancial concerns from state political leaders amid the pandemic.
“The problem with UConn and the state is we spend money faster than we take it in,” Rep. Vin Candelora, R-North Branford, said. “So continuing to try to look for fundraising doesn’t solve the problem when you’re spending money too quickly. I don’t question the school’s decision to go to the Big East, but obviously there were financial ramifications to that. It’s something that the school needed to budget for and address, but I do think the school also needs to step up their concerns.”
COVID-19 has had a crippling effect on athletic departments and their budgets — including UConn. With an overall shortfall of at least $47 million, and possibly more, expected for the 2020-21 academic year, the university announced last month plans to cut four sports: men’s tennis, men’s cross country, men’s swimming and diving, and women’s rowing.
Candelora knows sports — he is a father of high school athletes and the owner of the Connecticut Sportsplex in North Branford. He’s aware that the current financial crunch will likely lead to cancellations across the NCAA this fall.
“I’m watching Yankees games now, and there’s zero seating. I can’t imagine the revenue loss that they’re seeing,” he said. “I think colleges are going to feel that same impact.”
Given that, Candelora believes the state should help UConn weather the storm through the pandemic.
“For three months we saw a complete drop, and I think that’s going to last for the next year,” he said. “To the extent that the state can prop up that program, I think it needs to. Their revenue loss is not the result of poor management in my opinion. The revenue loss is the result of the pandemic.”
The situation, of course, was dire before COVID-19. The athletic department had a $42.3 million revenue gap last year, using direct institutional support to balance the budget.
That’s been the case for the past few years, although UConn athletics were financially healthy in recent years. But the football program, in particular — whose revenues have dropped from $13 million in 2011 to $3.3 million in 2019 — has become a money pit.
“Up until 2011 or 2012, it looked like one of the greatest investments UConn ever made,” House Majority Leader Matt Ritter, D-Hartford, said. “We were selling out stadiums, we were playing in the (Fiesta Bowl) against Oklahoma, so I don’t think it’s fair to say UConn football wasn’t successful, it was. It’s been the last five or six years where it’s really had major struggles.”
An invitation to a Power Five Conference would’ve meant more TV dollars and, in some cases, less travel. The American Athletic Conference, UConn’s home for the last seven years, also lacked the rivalries that Huskies fans had grown to love.
“There was just no commonality with the schools they were playing,” Ritter said of the AAC. “It was hard for me as a big UConn fan to get excited for Tulsa, it just was. They have decent athletics, it just never worked. What made the XL Center rocking back in the day wasn’t just UConn fans, it was the energy that Providence fans brought, or Georgetown fans, or Villanova. They just could not recreate that with Tulane.”
Ritter, whose father
Thomas is on UConn’s Board of Trustees, said the school deserves the benefit of the doubt to see how football fares as an independent.
UConn’s move back to the Big East, where it was a founding member in 1979, will allow the school to reclaim its identity in basketball. But it comes at a cost — a $17 million exit fee to the AAC, along with a $3.5 million entrance fee to the Big East. That sum will be spread out through the end of the 2026 fiscal year.
Senate Minority Leader Len Fasano, R-North Haven, pointed at UConn to pay those fees through money provided by the school’s fundraising arm. In a letter sent to UConn president Thomas C. Katsouleas last summer following the announcement, Fasano expressed concern that the cost would ultimately land on the shoulders of students.
“As UConn stated, this will be paid for using revenue collected from students for things like housing and meals,” he wrote. “If you have extra money in this non-academic revenue fund, it begs the question: are we overcharging students for these expenses?”
A year later, Fasano’s stance hasn’t changed.
“They’ve got to step up and give money to UConn athletics or UConn students,” he said. “You can’t say I’m going to reap the benefit of a healthy, robust athletic program by getting donations when they’re not helping lower tuition costs. They’re going to sabbaticals for teachers, they’re paying for presidents’ houses, they’re doing all these other things. What are they doing for the students or directly for athletics? I think they need to step up and ante up their investment in their program.”