UH athletics expects $4.2 million shortfall

The University of Hawaii athletic department’s deficit for the just-concluded fiscal year is expected to be the biggest in its history.

By the time the annual audit is concluded this fall, UH said it expects to report a deficit of $4.2 million-$4.4 million for the fiscal year that concluded June 30, athletic director David Matlin said.

That is a $400,000 rise above the preliminary estimate of $3.8 million-$4.0 million officials had forecast in a May appearance before the school’s Board of Regents.

“The difference was some revenues that were anticipated to come in didn’t come in,” Matlin said. “And some expenses ended up being a little higher.”

For example, Matlin said, “less money came in on some of the fundraising arms.” Fundraising and donations were expected to finish more than $1 million below initial projections of $4.1 million.

In addition the department has faced higher personnel costs due to the changes in athletic directors and basketball coaching staffs.

The largest deficit of the past 20 years was $3,379,133 for the 2012-13 school year.

UH’s 21-team athletic program is not alone in struggling to cover its costs. Regents have been told that “over 90 percent of the (athletic) programs in the country are in deficit,” board member Stanford Yuen said. Few of the teams UH regularly competes against in the Mountain West Conference or Big West Conference claim balanced budgets and are heavily subsidized.

UH’s fourth consecutive deficit year — and 12th in 14 years — comes as the Board of Regents prepares for a so-called “deep dive” into athletic finances next month. Chairman Randy Moore has said he wants the session to “give the board some context for all the issues.”

The athletic department operates out of a special fund, one of more than a dozen in the UH system, and shortfalls must be made up from other sources, including fees, other special fund balances, general funds, academic programs or tuition, officials have said.