The University of Hawai'i athletic department opened the 2008-09 fiscal year yesterday projecting the largest budget in school history, $29.6 million, while also seeking help in balancing it.

The projection currently carries with it a forecast for a $2 million deficit that the athletic department may need help from the university administration in overcoming, especially if travel costs continue to escalate, athletic director Jim Donovan said.

The projected budget will keep UH in the running with Boise State for the largest budget in the nine-school Western Athletic Conference. Boise State officials have asked the Idaho State Board of Education to authorize a $29.4 million budget.

UH expects to close the books on the fiscal year that concluded Monday somewhere between breaking even and a $100,000 surplus, Donovan said.

"We're still putting the final touches on it but, right now, it looks right now we'll come in the black a little bit at about $29.15 million," Donovan said. Budget figures won't be official until an outside auditor makes its report to the Board of Regents, which usually occurs in January.

Any surplus would be used to help pay down the $4.4 million accumulated net deficit acquired over the previous five years, Donovan said.

That tide of red ink would have risen significantly if not for the Warriors' appearance in the Sugar Bowl, Donovan said. The Warriors' share of the WAC's Bowl Championship Series payout is $4,385,555. After expenses, UH has said it expects to realize about $2.2 million, which will be used to level the 2007-08 balance sheet. "Without it we'd absolutely have been in the red," Donovan said.

Donovan said athletic department staff and officials from the Manoa Chancellor's Office have been working for months to reduce the projected deficit. "We've closed the gap quite a bit and think we might be able to close it some more," he said.

Of increasing concern, UH officials said, are rising fuel prices that have heavily impacted travel. Donovan said airline costs have more than doubled for some destinations, forcing UH to significantly reduce charter flights.

Through ticket sales, sponsorships and television and radio rights athletics pays for approximately 88 percent to 90 percent of its annual operating budget. The university helps support tuition waivers and lower campus maintenance, officials said.