HONOLULU (AP) — University of Hawaii’s athletic director is looking to improve his department’s fiscal situation in order to reach a balanced budget. ADVERTISING HONOLULU (AP) — University of Hawaii’s athletic director is looking to improve his department’s fiscal situation
HONOLULU (AP) — University of Hawaii’s athletic director is looking to improve his department’s fiscal situation in order to reach a balanced budget.
David Matlin presented a five-year plan to the Board of Regents aimed at balancing the budget by 2020, The Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported (https://bit.ly/1PDvFmB).
The athletics department has operated at a deficit for eight of the last 11 years. Matlin said the department is on track for a $4.2 million deficit for fiscal year 2015 on expenses of $38 million.
Steps detailed in Matlin’s plan include raising the student athletic fee from $50 to $100 and institutional support from UH of $2.3 million per year. The plan also calls for boosting financial support from the state Legislature starting at $5 million in 2017 to $5.5 million by 2020.
Matlin said that the athletic department could improve its revenue generation by enhanced contributions and strict expense management.
UH is currently funded at lower levels than most of the schools it competes against, Matlin said, including those in the Mountain West Conference, Big West Conference and elsewhere. The “current self-sustaining financial model is inconsistent with collegiate athletics nationwide,” he said.
UH generates 66 percent of its revenue, receiving less than 34 percent of its direct funding from the institution, state and student fees.
Matlin claimed UH athletics is worth $7 million in state tax collection and the value it brings to the state in media exposure.
