It is just six key words, but after more than a decade of seeing University of Hawaii athletics struggle with budget deficits, the Board of Regents is considering a policy change that appears to represent an acknowledgement of the nationwide reality of unbalanced budgets in major college sports.

Over the years, some regents have challenged the athletic department to perform “more like a business” or demanded a series of plans aimed at balancing the budget. They were hopes reflected in Board of Regents Policy No. 7.208-D that stated, in part, “The athletics dept. will prepare an annual budget that balances expected revenues and expenses.”

But as the athletic department was preparing to close the books on the 2019 fiscal year that ended June 30 with its latest deficit, a proposed policy revision put before regents said simply, “The campus athletics dept. will prepare an annual budget.”

It added, in wording nearly identical to the current policy, “Should the athletics dept. end a fiscal year in deficit, meaning that total expenses exceed total revenues, including institutional support and student fees, this shall be noted in the annual financial report of the campus along with plans to reconcile the deficit and to account for its costs. The campus CEO may eliminate a deficit of the athletics dept. by providing funds from other sources, as permitted by law, to offset such deficit.”

Regents said they are still seeking financial accountability, and chairwoman Lee Putnam, speaking as an individual member, said, “I think it would be ideal if they (athletics) could have a balanced budget, and they have gotten closer, but it is very difficult. That’s why I was happy to see the Legislature help out.”

In May, legislators appropriated $3.6 million for Manoa for 2020, up from the $2.7 million of previous years.

Athletic director David Matlin has declined to say where the fiscal year 2019 budget of more than $40 million to operate 21 teams will come in, but the expectation has been that it will mark the department’s eighth consecutive deficit year and 16th in 18 years.

The 2018 fiscal year concluded with a $1.9 million deficit.

Deficits requiring additional infusions of university money have been a familiar trend in major college athletics well beyond UH. A USA Today study of 230 Division I public universities from 2016-17 showed just 23 balanced their budgets.

Among the biggest laggards of late has been Connecticut, which spent $41 million more than it generated in 2018, according to reports

All those who balanced their books or operated at a surplus were from the well-heeled Power Five conferences, whose members each take in $20 million-$30 million annually just in media rights. Texas, Texas A&M, Ohio State, Michigan, Alabama, Georgia, Oklahoma and Oregon were prominent among them.

In Manoa, a series of chancellors have used school funds to make up for budget shortfalls over the past decades. In 2013 then-chancellor Tom Apple announced plans to “Manoa-ize” an $11.3 million net deficit accumulated over 12 years.

The final number jumped to $14.7 million, which successors have said is to be paid off at the rate of $700,000 per year over 21 years from campus operating funds.

Meanwhile, UH apparently looks to balance reality while not giving up on chasing solvency.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820.