FAU Football $$$
Posted
#164990
(In Topic #29502)
Curious Owl
Member since 2004
Student fees may rise as costly football program throws FAU for a loss
CareerBuilder
By Jennifer Peltz
Staff Writer
February 10, 2005
Staggering under the hefty cost of football, Florida Atlantic University is talking about hiking student fees, shaving sports spending and borrowing from such sources as student housing rents and bookstore sales.
Acknowledging that ticket sales, corporate sponsorships and donations are falling short of expectations, FAU expects to lose more than $1.7 million on sports this school year. Administrators say they probably will seek to cover the loss temporarily out of the profits of various campus money-makers – student housing, food service, theater rentals, enrichment classes and the like. Those profits ultimately are destined to enhance those enterprises and the money would have to be repaid.
So does more than $1.2 million in bank loans for FAU sports during the past two years, according to FAU finance chief Kenneth Jessell. And the university's fund-raising foundation also expects to recoup about $4.5 million it lent the fledgling Owls in their starting years, says fund-raising director Ann Paton. The foundation also raised $16.3 million in outright donations, she said.
The debts, against a roughly $10 million sports budget, add up to enough to bother some trustees.
A couple made it clear Wednesday they won't keep tolerating red ink, even for a team that put FAU on national television in its third season.
"We all understand the value that the football program has brought to the university," trustee chairwoman Sherry Plymale said. "… [But] we cannot continue this downhill slide."
For students, the shortfall means the prospect of an up to a 17 percent increase in their sports fee, already among the highest in Florida's state university system. All of FAU's roughly 27,000 for-credit students now subsidize sports to the tune of $11.75 per credit, or $282 a year for a full-time undergraduate load of 24 credits. By comparison, the sports fee is $1.90 per credit at the University of Florida, where television and other revenues help underwrite sports teams.
Credit fee increase
Now FAU might ask students for as much as another $2 per credit if trustees and a student-staff committee approve. The fee increase would generate about $1.2 million a year, according to Jessell.
It might not be such a tough sell to Chris Eberhart, a 19-year-old on FAU's baseball team. "[Football] can be the reason that someone picks a school," he reasons.
But Natalie Rogers, a senior majoring in accounting, doesn't appreciate having to pay to support a sport she doesn't like, let alone go to see.
"If they need more money, they should make the football players have some car washes," said Rogers, 28.
Administrators say they're hustling to come up with a broader plan to balance the sports budget next year. They're hinting hopefully about raising ticket sales and contributions, but Jessell said Wednesday they might also shrink football spending.
The Fighting Owls started out thinking big. As soon as FAU got state permission to start the football team in 1999, coach Howard Schnellenberger envisioned quickly attracting crowds of 20,000, building a 42,000-seat stadium on campus and moving into top-flight Division I-A within two years.
Athletically, the team has enjoyed considerable success. The Owls made it to the Division I-AA semi-finals in 2003, started a two-year process of qualifying for Division I-A in 2004 and have been invited to join the Sun Belt conference this coming season.
But FAU has grappled with the cost of its gridiron ambitions. After the football team lost $1.6 million in 2001-2002, the university moved home games from Pro Player Stadium to less expensive Lockhart Stadium in Fort Lauderdale. But administrators also carved out savings from other sports, reducing the overall sports staff and canceling plans to start a water polo team.
Despite efforts to economize, FAU's sports expenses are rising, largely due to the added scholarships, higher coaching salaries and other costs of bidding for Division I-A football. The athletics budget this year rose 13 percent, to $10.1 million.
FIU problem
Miami-based Florida International University, which started its football team a year after FAU, has seen a similar spurt in costs as it aims for I-A. FIU increased its student sports fees in 2004, soon after a state law specified that state universities could up the fees by as much as $2 per credit to help cover the cost of changing divisions.
FIU Athletic Director Rick Mello says the fee bump balanced FIU's sports budget for now, but the university ultimately will need to increase ticket sales and contributions.
At FAU, "The costs keep rising, the revenues rise incrementally, and we keep getting further and further off-balance," explains its athletic director, Craig Angelos.
Dearth of fans
The Owls averaged less than 10,800 fans per game last fall – a 57-percent jump from the 2003 average, but still well shy of the 15,000 expected of Division I-A teams. With Hurricane Jeanne postponing the team's home opener, ticket sales were more than $150,000 short of projections, although Jessell said that gap was filled by higher-than-expected payments for tournament appearances and taking on very competitive opponents, including in sports other than football.
Meanwhile, sponsorships and fund-raising fell much shorter. FAU expected to log about $2.2 million in contributions and corporate sales this budget year, which ends in June. So far, it has bagged about $179,000.
The university recently hired a fund-raiser to focus on sports: Terry Mohajir, who came from a similar job at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. Donations are paying his roughly $75,000-a-year salary, Paton said.
"Everybody is still extraordinarily enthusiastic about this venture," she said. "We're just figuring out how to make it play."
Staff Writers Diane C. Lade and Ted Hutton contributed to this story.
Jennifer Peltz can be reached at [email protected] or 561-243-6636.
Copyright ? 2005, South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Posted
Wise Owl
Member since 2004
FAU Football $$$
Athletics programs as they are added at this level bring a new financial responsibility with some draw backs in the begining. As the program grow so do the rewards. The Prez, Schnell, and the AD are going at it full blast and that is the way to get'r'done.
If the Trustees start cutting and going halfass'd that is the program you will end up with halfass. I'm not saying to ignore fiscal responsibilities but when you are trying to develop and grow the University you have to make some allowances initially.
Posted
Wise Owl
Member since 2003
FAU Football $$$
Posted
Wise Owl
Member since 2003
FAU Football $$$
Football will pay back all which it has borrowed, AND MORE in years to come.
Here's a link to the PB Post article:
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/localnews/content/local_news/epaper/2005/02/10/s1a_FAUBALL_0210.html
Posted
Bytor
Member since 2004
FAU Football $$$
Every major expenditure involves risk as long as so give it a chance the rewards will be there.
Posted
Wise Owl
Member since 2004
FAU Football $$$
Posted
Wise Owl
Member since 2004
FAU Football $$$
Posted
Bytor
Member since 2004
FAU Football $$$
With time things will be grand in Owl Land - fund drive are already in the works to generate money to cover the over expenditure and for the stadium.
In two years this won't even be an issue.
Posted
Wise Owl
Member since 2004
FAU Football $$$
Posted
Wise Owl
Member since 2004
FAU Football $$$
FAU Football $$$
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