USF athletics bracing for budget cut as pandemic lingers

[Triple B]

By Joey Knight

Published 2 hours ago

Updated 2 hours ago

USF athletics as you knew it before the coronavirus’ rampage remains intact. To this point, the Bulls haven’t been forced to lay off staffers, eliminate sports or even impose furloughs.

Which isn’t to say they haven’t gone through this crisis unscathed.

Athletic director Michael Kelly said Thursday that his department must trim 15 percent from its budget for the 2020-21 academic year. He has spent part of the self-isolation period collaborating with coaches and senior staffers on where the trims will occur.

“It’s been a collaborative process,” Kelly said in a video conference with the Tampa Bay Times.

“I certainly wanted coaches to be a part of (the discussions). It’s not easy for anybody, but I don’t feel it’s appropriate for me to just cut without the knowledge about how to handle your department.”

...

While Kelly didn’t specify where USF’s cuts would occur, he acknowledged some coaches volunteered to have their salaries reduced, a measure that has yet to be implemented.

Whether more drastic measures are required hinges on how the pandemic affects fall revenues.

Rest of article

[BayIslandBull]

I read it earlier too, but I don't get where the athletic dept would have lost revenue in 3 months. Did the school refund athletic fees for the spring semester, or has enrollment decreased that much? 

I graduated in 2007/2009 and the college of engineering had a strong online course offering then. I can't imagine that other colleges haven't done so as well in a decade. I was still charged athletic fees for any online course I took if I remember correctly. Summer enrollment has always been low, so the drop off can't be that much with online options. 

With that said, I upped my donation this year. Others should be encouraged to as well if possible. 

[NewEnglandBull]

 

[BDYZR]

The work around?

https://www.al.com/alabamafootball/2020/05/which-fans-can-attend-a-cfb-game-this-fall-could-social-distancing-work.html?fbclid=IwAR3_uUeqGdy4BRrhw9F4AZ_YG6DZLYDJX2TAmeBRvQ8LACKxhefPlyh3Zlo

 

[Friscobull]

11 hours ago, BayIslandBull said:

I read it earlier too, but I don't get where the athletic dept would have lost revenue in 3 months. Did the school refund athletic fees for the spring semester, or has enrollment decreased that much? 

 

They are projecting these losses in the future, budget 2020-2021, they may experience a bigger loss and have to cut more, immediate future looks bleak.

[Triple B]

2 hours ago, BDYZR said:

The work around?

https://www.al.com/alabamafootball/2020/05/which-fans-can-attend-a-cfb-game-this-fall-could-social-distancing-work.html?fbclid=IwAR3_uUeqGdy4BRrhw9F4AZ_YG6DZLYDJX2TAmeBRvQ8LACKxhefPlyh3Zlo

As has been opined before on here, we are so far ahead of the curve on being set up for this it's not even funny ....

[puc86]

I thought we were taking the government approach and losing money is what we did, nice to see there is a line in the sand.

[puc86]

53 minutes ago, brybull1970 said:

Interesting breakout between USF revenues and expenses - seeing as how both match to the dollar I suspect their is some really interesting math going on and/or there is some shortfall measure in place to fund the department when gaps occur (e.g. Non-allocated revenues and expenses).

I was hoping there would be some breakout between revenues and expenses at the sport level to identify which laggards on the budget could be cut first, but that breakout is only provided for football, basketball and all other sports combined - and again all 3 buckets have a reported exact match between revenues and expenses.

I suspect Kelly knows the true numbers and will use that to determine which sports stay and go.

USF Athletics Expenses and Revenue.pdf 693.98 kB · 1 download

It is because the University transfers in the delta from revenues and expenses out of non-allocated accounts

https://www.usf.edu/business-finance/resource-management-analysis/documents/operating-budget-17-18.pdf

In your example it is line 13, so if you know the athletic fee amount from the year subtract it from the $19Million and change and that should be the shortfall that the University covered from other accounts. 

Edited May 22, 2020 by puc86

[BulledOver]

Dont know if this is a possibility or not? Just something my wife and I were talking about re: football/bball games. If the fans in the stands were reduced to allow for distancing kinda like the NBA is talking about. Basically, you would be shown to your seats. Probably be the season ticket holders and students shown preference. Then show X number of games on Pay Per View set-up. I know we would be in to pay $30-40.00 a view on tv  if.....USF(AAC) was receiving expanded $$ from ESPN(on top of current contract) from the PPV receipts. Wonder if that would help offset some of the other lost revenue???  Of course, a plan for the short term(1-2 seasons) then?? And that thought would be a talking over morning coffee moment. We will prob come up with some ideas tomorrow to cure the climate and the pandemic??  ..        

[Friscobull]

1 minute ago, BulledOver said:

Dont know if this is a possibility or not? Just something my wife and I were talking about re: football/bball games. If the fans in the stands were reduced to allow for distancing kinda like the NBA is talking about. Basically, you would be shown to your seats. Probably be the season ticket holders and students shown preference. Then show X number of games on Pay Per View set-up. I know we would be in to pay $30-40.00 a view on tv  if.....USF(AAC) was receiving expanded $$ from ESPN(on top of current contract) from the PPV receipts. Wonder if that would help offset some of the other lost revenue???  Of course, a plan for the short term(1-2 seasons) then?? And that thought would be a talking over morning coffee moment. We will prob come up with some ideas tomorrow to cure the climate and the pandemic??  ..        

TV contracts in place, PPV is not an option and not sure how lucrative anyways, is that Irish coffee you guys are drinking?