Athletics department tightens belt

This weekend, the University of Minnesota saved $70,000 by sending its football team to its season finale in Iowa via bus rather than plane.
In the current economic crisis, the athletics department is trying to find ways to save money without drastic measures such as cutting sports to save money. The University isn’t alone in its efforts, as athletics programs across the country are making similar sacrifices, and some are being forced to make more difficult cuts.
The football team’s bus ride to Iowa can be attributed to a University policy enacted last year calling on teams to bus to away games within 400 miles. Teams are budgeted for bus trips to such destinations as Madison, Wis.; Evanston, Ill.; and Iowa, but teams are free to fly if similarly priced airfare is available.
Senior Associate Athletics Director Liz Eull said there are some exceptions to this rule, particularly when the additional travel time of a road trip would interfere with class time.
The University will spend $747,468 on charter flight services for its men’s and women’s basketball programs during the 2009-10 season, more than $426,000 of which is going to CharterSearch Inc., a charter flight company.
Joe Quinn, director of flight operations for CharterSearch, said that while there has been a noticeable shift in college teams traveling by bus to destinations they used to fly to, it has not severely impacted the Florida-based company.
“The use of charter keeps students from missing class time, and that’s still a priority,” Quinn said.
CharterSearch provides charter flights to more than 130 college athletic teams, primarily men’s and women’s basketball.
Quinn said he predicted that the impact of the recession would not be felt by universities until this year, since many were still operating on budgets set before the recession.
The athletics department has looked for measures beyond paring travel expenses to make up for a $700,000 reduction in funds allocated by the University, Eull said.
“Each one of our teams has been held at their budgets from last year,” Eull said, adding that this forces coaches to prioritize what they choose to spend their money on.
The department has also looked for little ways to trim expenses, like redoing contracts with some vendors and asking staff to refill the gas tanks of rental cars on recruiting trips prior to returning the vehicle to avoid surcharges.
The University is not alone in dealing with funding cuts.
University of Massachusetts Director of Athletics John McCutcheon said his department lost $850,000 this year in funds.
While this is only $150,000 more than Minnesota’s athletics department lost in University funds, McCutcheon operates on a total budget of around $21 million compared to Minnesota’s budget of $74.1 million, making the impact much more severe.
In order to cope with this and a decline in corporate sponsors and general donations, McCutcheon eliminated funding for the men’s and women’s ski teams. McCutcheon said the cuts would save about $100,000.
The University of Maine cut its men’s soccer and women’s volleyball teams; the University of Cincinnati has eliminated scholarships for men’s track, cross country and swimming; and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology — one of the country’s wealthiest universities — has cut eight teams, including wrestling and men’s and women’s hockey, to deal with budget shortfalls.
Even the heralded Stanford University athletics department has taken a financial hit.
In February, Stanford announced it was eliminating 21 positions in the athletics department in the face of an expected $5.4-million decrease in revenue over the next three years.
The financial situation at the University is not as dire.
“We’ve been fortunate that we haven’t had to lay anyone off,” said Eull, though vacated positions have gone unfilled.
Revenue from ticket sales at the University has been steady, according to Eull.
This year, the University has budgeted for $20 million in ticket sales, but Eull says this is a conservative estimate.
The University of Massachusetts is having no such luck. McCutcheon said ticket sales have been down in some sports, and to compensate, the school has looked for ways to increase revenue.
For example, Massachusetts’ football team will travel to the University of Michigan for a game in 2010. The guaranteed revenue from playing a larger school like Michigan will give the athletics department a financial boost, he said.
Though some reports have suggested the economy is on the rebound, McCutcheon does not forecast a quick recovery for his department.
“The storm clouds are out for next year or the next two years,” McCutcheon said.