UNLV athletics nearly $5M in the red
Dwindling attendance and poor-performing teams have contributed to UNLV’s athletic department facing nearly a $5 million budget shortfall.
The department’s $4.9 million deficit is far greater than the $3.4 million shortfall that was in the budget, largely because of attendance problems in men’s basketball and football, according to university officials.
“I don’t know how far we can reduce that number, but it will be some significant amount, and we will work closely with the Athletics administration over the next few months,” Gerry Bomotti, UNLV senior vice president for finance and business, said in an email.
Bomotti and athletic director Tina Kunzer-Murphy said plans to address the financial situation in the 2016-17 academic year are still being developed.
Kunzer-Murphy said the goal is to eliminate the deficit in four years with the help of an annual operating reserve or surplus of $633,000. She said other revenue sources also must be found, specifically noting options include reinstating tuition and fee waivers as well as equity adjustments for women’s sports, which brings salaries in line with the going rate. Both were eliminated in 2007.
“We will take a hard line on expenses while increasing revenue in areas such as private donors fundraising and ticket sales,” Kunzer-Murphy said in an email. “The projections in our plans are purposely conservative and increased competitiveness in football and men’s basketball achievable. We will continue to manage our expenses carefully and continually look for ways to save.”
Revenue shortfalls in men’s basketball and football are the main culprits for the deficit. Bomotti said the two sports received about $1.8 million less less than projected because of losses in ticket revenue, which in turn have taken a toll on concessions sales.
Both sports have struggled on the field, with the football team going 4-8 last season and the men’s basketball team at 10-16 with a six-game losing streak heading into Sunday’s game at San Diego State.
The football program averaged an announced home crowd of 18,389 last season, a figure that reflects tickets sold rather an in-house attendance. UNLV’s men’s basketball program averages an announced crowd of 10,160, though the number of fans who actually shows up often is about half of that.
It was just six months ago when UNLV applied for membership in the Big 12 Conference, hoping the prospect of a new domed stadium and Power 5 Conference TV revenue would make the department a money-maker.
Bomotti and Kunzer-Murphy said the transition between basketball coaching staffs also helped account for some of the deficit. Dave Rice was fired 13 months ago, and UNLV is paying him $300,000 per year through the 2018-19 season part of the buyout.
Rice’s salary at the time of his firing was $700,000, which is what first-year coach Marvin Menzies is making for each of his first three seasons. Menzies then will earn $800,000 each of his final two seasons.
In football, the Rebels didn’t have a big payday this season. They will receive $1.3 million for playing at Ohio State next season and $1.15 million for playing at Southern California in 2018. And other than UNR, there wasn’t a marquee opponent on last season’s home schedule.
UNLV’s commitment to providing full cost of attendance in scholarships also is responsible for part of the deficit, though the university provides $800,000 in assistance. The university, however, had provided athletics with $1.2 million for its general fund, but no longer does.
Contact Mark Anderson at manderson@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2914. Follow @markanderson65 on Twitter.
