MONEY $ GAME
■ U of M budget likely to change little in 2013-14 ■ Revenue no issue at most Mid-South schools
In eight days, the University of Memphis will enter a conference in which the bar is raised, both competitively and financially. But at least in their first year in the American Athletic Conference, they’ll be competing with about the same resources as their last year in Conference USA.
The Tigers plan to enter the American with a $36.5 million budget that is “pretty much a flat line” from the projected end of the 2012-13 fiscal year, U of M athletic director Tom Bowen said last week.
“And in my opinion, (it’s) much more efficient and will probably be less at the end than what’s projected,” Bowen said. “Our challenges are to continue to create revenues to meet those needs.”
The U of M submitted its 2013-14 projections to the Tennessee Board of Regents this month and provided a copy of that projection to The Commercial Appeal last week. There remains a certain amount of flux, what with the remaining unknowns associated with the new conference.
The Tigers expect to receive just shy of $9 million in student fees, or essentially one-quarter of the budget.
They’re projecting $11.4 million in donations, $8.4 million in ticket sales and $1.3 million in conference revenue sharing.
Almost $14 million of the department’s expenses, or 38 percent, are for salaries and benefits. The U of M has budgeted just over $3 million for team travel in the first year of AAC competition, though unknowns about what exactly travel in the new conference will cost could change that.
Bowen’s pressing issue is building a budget that is no longer dependent on help from the university’s general fund. The budget estimates asking for $1.3 million this year, though the amount remains inexact. (Such dependence on transfers and student fees aren’t uncommon; a USA Today study this year of 228 NCAA athletics departments found that only 23 generate enough revenue to cover their expenses.)
Bowen said he’s focused on eliminating the need for that transfer and hopes to be clear of it within two years.
Bowen has hired new senior staff members in the past year, but said the net cost of the additions was offset by consolidating positions and removing some part-time jobs. One of those staff members, senior associate AD for finance and business operations Stacy Martin, has worked with Bowen to overhaul the department’s fiscal and budgeting procedures.
Bowen said the U of M budgeted conservatively on ticket sales projections for football, so a successful season in the stands and the potential of a bowl game could add revenue. He’s also excited about new initiatives in fundraising such as the True Blue Society.
Remaining contracts for football coaches and former athletic director R.C. Johnson placed handcuffs on the budget. Johnson’s $316,725 salary is to be paid through the end of this month, thus freeing the 2013-14 budget from that obligation. And former football coach Tommy West’s contract expired last fall, eliminating that obligation.
Former football coach Larry Porter i s due his annual salary of $ 754,890, minus what he makes in his current job, t hrough Nov. 29, 2014. Porter is an assistant coach at Texas; that school didn’t answer a request for his salary late last week.