Posted on: Sunday, July 6, 2003
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Ferd Lewis
Advertiser Columnist
"We have no pro sports — and this is a sports state. It (UH sports) is worth a lot to the state and I see nothing wrong with the state paying for (up to) 25 percent of the athletic bill."
Once upon better times, a University of Hawai'i president was prepared to propose that the state underwrite a quarter of Manoa's athletic department financing to the tune of a couple million dollars a year.
But Simone moved on before he could ask lawmakers to pick up a portion of the tab. Just as well, too, because within two years of voicing his plan, the first Gulf War and Asian financial crisis hit, the economy was well on its way to being the worst of any state in the 1990s, and the Legislature had no change to spare.
Now, with athletics having just concluded back-to-back deficits for the first time in more than a quarter-century, we are again confronted by the issue of where athletics fits in and at what cost.
The red ink needs to raise red flags and prompt the commitment to staying in the black so that deficits and the money they drain from more necessary academic pursuits don't become a way of life.
A year ago, the $1.43 million deficit was covered by tapping the so-called "rainy day" fund, where previous athletic surpluses were banked. But that exhausted the fund, and now the projected deficit of $1 million — or more — for the fiscal year that concluded Monday has necessitated a $1 million loan to athletics.
Even with the loan, the general fund money that will go into intercollegiate athletics this year figures to be barely one percent of the $186 million Manoa said it receives.
But in austere times, when trims are being made to academic programs, campus spending is being restricted, and the faculty is understandably restless about overdue raises, every dollar that goes somewhere else is one less for education. Every buck diverted to prop up athletics is one that is taken away from the essential educational mission of the university. It also raises a question about priorities.
There is a deepening pool of red ink throughout Division I-A, where studies indicate fewer than half of the 117 schools make money. At that, it is often a paper profit since many schools don't include subsidies or the cost of facility operation, maintenance and debt service in the accounting.
For years, schools, especially in states where there are no pro sports, have looked upon athletics as a vehicle to raise visibility and draw community and alumni contributions. And managed well, they can and should be. When UH sports teams do well, they can rally an entire state in tough times, witness the effect of national championships and NCAA exploits.
Indeed, a successful athletic program can bring much to the university it calls home. But only if it does so while carrying its own weight.
— Albert Simone, UH President, Jan. 1990.
