Hi 67 / Lo 49
|
Hi 67 / Lo 49 |
 |
Volume 68, Issue 93,
Tuesday, Feburary 11, 2003
News UH to build up sports donations By Ray Hafner
As departments across campus look for ways to trim their budgets, officials in the Athletics Department are developing a three-year plan to reduce their $10.8 million budget deficit by focusing on attracting more charitable donations, officials say.
Empty seats at a basketball game in Hofheinz Pavilion are indicative of the major problem that plagues the Athletics Department and is one cause of its budget woes. President Arthur K. Smith said in an interview last month that a budget deficit, or subsidy, of between $4 million and $6 million would be justifiable and should be reached within three years. "Virtually all Division I universities have to provide some subsidy these days to run a Division I A intercollegiate athletics program," Smith said. So while a self-sustaining athletics program is not considered likely, officials intend to create a "culture of philanthropy" by getting potential donors involved in the program, Director of the Athletics Department Dave Maggard said. "People who give to one thing generally give to another," Maggard said, and cited John Moores. Moores donated the money to build the Athletic/Alumni Center and also paid for the Moores Opera House. Maggard said the Athletics Department would work with Office of University Development, the main fund-raising department on campus. Many potential donors have simply never been asked, Maggard said. Athletics is developing a computer system to create an effective fund-raising machine to track donors and stay in touch through newsletters and season ticket offers. One way of staying in touch is by creating social events like last weekis signing day for football recruits in the Athletic/Alumni Center, he said. John Rudley, vice chancellor and vice president for Administration and Finance, agreed that philanthropy would be key to decreasing the deficit. Rudley pointed out that the shifting fortunes of athletics, where you can have a winning team for a few years and then develop an inability to win games, is hurting the program. Philanthropy could be a more stable source of support. Winning games, especially in football and menis basketball, will be the best way to overcome the deficit, both Smith and Maggard said. "We have a real challenge getting people to come to games," Smith said. This is because Houston is a tough market for sports and UH is now competing with the NFLis Houston Texans, he said. "We need to rejuvenate, especially in football and menis basketball." The Athletics subsidy is paid from interest earnings on state funds. No money comes from tuition or any mandatory fees other than the Student Service Fee. The dissonance between projected revenues and reality was highlighted in budget information obtained by The Daily Cougar under the Freedom of Information Act. In Fiscal Year 2002, the deficit was expected to be only $5.2 million, not $10.8 million. Maggard and Smith both said former Athletics Director Chet Gladchuk was responsible. Gladchuk left UH in Sept. 2001 after four years on the job, and is now the AD at the U.S. Naval Academy. "When he submitted a budget he would submit a very hopeful budget that had figures for revenues that were not really born out by reality," Smith said. Smith has requested that Maggard, who stepped into the post last year, submit a realistic budget as part of a presentation scheduled for March that will outline steps to decrease the deficit. "We have to have a more realistic budgeting process," Maggard said.
"We have to come up with real numbers."
Send comments to dcnews@mail.uh.edu |
To contact the
To contact other members
of
 |
