It’s a simple formula. College football team loses. Ticket sales decline. Athletic department budget gets whacked.

University of Hawaii athletic director Ben Jay fears he will have to cut his department’s $32 million annual budget in the middle of this fiscal year because ticket sales are not meeting projections for home football games.

According to figures from UH, around $4.33 million was expected from football ticket sales. Now, depending on walkup sales for the final three home games, the projection has been adjusted to between $3.5 and $4 million.

Attendance is actually up slightly for the first three home games of 2013 compared to those of 2012. But the first three Aloha Stadium opponents last year were Lamar (of the lower-tier FCS), and Mountain West foes Nevada and New Mexico. This year they were USC and Fresno State and San Jose State of the MWC. The Trojans and Bulldogs both arrived in the islands ranked.

The announced attendance has gone down each week this season, starting with 39,058 for the USC game to open the season to 28,755 when an 0-3 UH team hosted Fresno State and then 27,146 for the San Jose State game that the Rainbow Warriors entered at 0-4.

Now, with the team at 0-6, Jay is rightfully wary that revenue from ticket sales will plummet.

It doesn’t help that the remaining home games are against Colorado State, San Diego State and Army. They are a combined 8-11 and none is considered a marquee attraction. Unless UH starts winning or the entire 25th Infantry Division attends the Army game, attendance will continue to fall.

"We’re keeping track of it as we go, game-to-game. We’ll take another close look after the Colorado State game," Jay said. "We may have to pull back on budgets in December. We really don’t want to do this, but we may have to cut people’s budgets in mid-year."

Jay said the department is "already projecting $248,000 in the red for the year."

A major fundraising effort — with one goal being raising the annual budget to $40 million — is underway. "Some checks are trickling in and we are extremely appreciative. But they’re in the thousand range. We need six figures," the athletic director said.

Salaries are untouchable so operating costs take the hits.

Recruiting budgets would go untouched because, "You can’t help yourself by cutting your legs," Jay said.

But other travel would be curtailed; for example, Jay likes to send staff to professional development seminars, but that won’t happen if the budget must be cut.

Jay, senior woman administrator Marilyn Moniz-Kaho’ohanohano and director of student-athlete development Cindy Rote will be in Indianapolis at UH’s expense on Sunday because softball star Kelly (Majam) Elms is a finalist for the NCAA Woman of the Year (the NCAA takes care of Elms’ travel).

It’s part of the job for college athletic administrators to travel, sometimes a lot. But this is the kind of trip UH won’t make next semester if finances don’t improve — and an example of how football pays the freight for nearly the entire department.

Reach Dave Reardon at dreardon@staradvertiser.com or 529-4783 or on Twitter as @dave_reardon.