Four UH sports profitable
| • | UH's money winners and losers |
By Stephen Tsai
Advertiser Staff Writer
Football and women's volleyball were the big bread-winners for the University of Hawai'i athletic department this academic year, according to figures made available to The Advertiser yesterday.
The football team earned $4,287,268.05 in ticket revenue for the 2001 season, netting a department-high $722,778.91. The Warriors' expenses totaled $3,564,489.14.
Women's volleyball was second, netting $310,278.95. The Rainbow Wahine earned $847,016.46 in ticket revenue, slightly below preseason projections, but a strong showing considering two matches were canceled in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks.
"They still were in the black by a good margin," UH associate athletic director Jim Donovan said.
Men's volleyball, which netted $297,469.51, and men's basketball, which netted $82,633.38, were UH's only other profitable athletic programs. Donovan said he expects season-ticket sales to increase for both sports. The men's volleyball team won the national championship this month and the men's basketball team qualified for the NCAA Tournament for the second consecutive year.
Donovan said he also expects to see an attendance boost in women's softball, which eventually will offer individual seats for home games, and soccer.
He said baseball, which struggled in the first season under coach Mike Trapasso, is expected to become a "break-even sport" in three years.
The figures did not include income from television, radio or NCAA tournaments. The men's basketball team is expected to earn another $50,000 from the NCAA Tournament.
"The revenues were close to what we expected and the expenses were what we budgeted," Donovan said. "Performance-wise, this probably was the best year overall. The soccer team was in the WAC championship (match), we had our first All-American in cross country, the football team went 9-3, the basketball teams did well and, of course, we won the national championship in men's volleyball. We expect women's volleyball to compete for a national title in the fall. We did well across the board. It's been a pretty good year."
