UH athletics need community support

University of Hawaii Athletic Director Ben Jay backpedaled almost immediately from his assertion that UH-Manoa’s athletics program was so hopelessly in the red that eliminating the football program was a viable option. Just hours after telling a Board of Regents committee on Monday that "there is a very real possibility of football going away," Jay issued a statement clarifying that none of UH’s 21 sports teams is in peril.

Jay emphasized that he had been trying to convey the sense of urgency needed to address what he describes as a "broken" funding model for a collegiate sports enterprise that is important to the broader community and deserves more funding from the state general fund.

Whether Jay was forthright or foolhardy in his comments is hotly debated, but practically beside the point now. The bottom line, which is apparent to all, is that the UH athletic department is in a world of hurt, and that it is by no means the only sector of the university that is suffering financially.

The ultimate risk for UH sports, then, is not the bad publicity that ensued from Jay’s hyperbole, which highlighted a disconnect within the administration (UH President David Lassner quickly weighed in to say that the football team isn’t going away), or even the potential harm to recruiting when such pessimistic predictions go viral (Jay’s comments were the talk of sports outlets nationwide, including ESPN).

No, the ultimate risk is that some day the general public may not recoil in horror at the thought of UH without a Division I football team. That day has not yet arrived: Jay’s gaffe ignited the predictable outcry from football fans, including a core segment of UH alumni. But that response can’t be counted on forever, especially if the team keeps losing and the state fails to address the very serious financial issues in other UH-Manoa departments that directly affect far more students, faculty and staff.

Among the challenges: a hiring freeze intended to save $10 million over the next two years; a $407 million backlog in deferred maintenance work at the aging Manoa campus; and tuition hikes that will increase the annual cost for resident undergraduates to $11,376 in 2016, not including student fees, books, room and board. This at an institution that already charges residents higher-than-average tuition compared to public universities nationwide, according to the College Board, and in a state with a large number of lower-income students.

So most UH-Manoa students and their parents, faculty and staff can be forgiven if they are less than moved by Jay’s plea for more money for UH sports: They’ve got more immediate worries. Besides, UH football is not strictly a college activity, it’s a community one. And that’s the point.

Stripped of the exaggeration about cutting football, Jay’s central message rings true. The UH athletic department has operated in the red for 11 of the past 13 years. At what point are we as a community going to end the charade that T-shirt sales, or even ticket sales, are going to close the $3 million budget gap? It’s time to acknowledge that competing at the Division I level requires an ongoing commitment from state general funds and community fundraising.

Given that the appeal and impact of UH athletics in general, and football in particular, extends far beyond the UH-Manoa campus, UH sports should not be treated strictly as a university budget issue. Jay is right about that, even though he should have expressed the thought more eloquently.