While University of Hawaii ticket revenues drop and TV rights payments are stagnant, the athletic department is experiencing an 11.8 percent rise in corporate partner funding.

For the current fiscal year that concludes June 30, UH said it will take in a record $4.26 million in cash and trade from 77 participants in its 13-year-old corporate partner program.

The $2.37 million in cash and $1.88 million in trade are up $83,638 and $366,275, respectively, from the previous year, UH said. In addition, sponsors have provided more than $200,000 in giveaways at UH events.

"Without the private sector funds, our budget woes would be magnified and we’d be facing cuts in many areas," UH athletic director Ben Jay said. "We’re very appreciative the local business community supports us in the ways they do."

UH is expected to conclude the fiscal year with an annual deficit of $2 million or more and an accumulated net deficit of more than $11 million since 2002.

The department began its corporate partner program in 2000-01, when sports agent Leigh Steinberg’s firm took over marketing. UH went in-house in 2003-04 after Herman Frazier took over as athletic director.

"We’re constantly looking at the items we’re spending money to acquire and we take them off the books by negotiating trade agreements with local companies that provide those products or services," said John McNamara, an associate athletic director who has overseen the program since 2004. "If we’re able to remove that expense, it frees up money to help support other areas. Money not spent is money made."

Annual sponsorship levels range from $10,000 (makana) to $150,000 and above (diamond) and include advertising packages and promotional nights tailored to the customers. The Star-Advertiser is among the sponsors in the diamond level.

Chad Nelson, regional director for Fantastic Sams Hair Salons, said he is a UH baseball fan, and during games at Les Murakami Stadium last year, he got interested in sponsorship possibilities.

"As I went to the games and looked around, I was thinking, ‘This would be the perfect thing for our company to get involved in,’ " Nelson said. "We’re a national brand, but I wanted people to know we’re locally owned and operated and what better way to do that than with UH, one of the most iconic brands in Hawaii?"

Nelson said, "UH sports is, in my opinion, at the pinnacle of local entertainment, so I felt it would be a privilege for us to put our logo and brand next to theirs."

Fantastic Sams signed on as a kaimana sponsor ($50,000-$74,000 annually) whose name is regularly featured on promotional spots at the Stan Sheriff Center.

The company was a game sponsor last week for two nights in the Gonzaga baseball series.

"John (McNamara’s) people (Brent Inouye, Aaron Mandich and Cory Enriques) really made it happen for us," Nelson said. "I got more feedback from this than anything we’ve done running commercials in the last four or five years, which tells me we were in the right place for our company.

"I wish we’d done it sooner."