Teams face ax if fiscal troubles continue

The University of Hawaii on Tuesday held out the firm possibility of cutting some of its sports teams if the athletic department can’t rein in its recurring deficits.

Manoa Chancellor Tom Apple, who forgave an accumulated decade-long net deficit of $13 million in May, told the Board of Regents Committee on Intercollegiate Athletics the department is required to balance its books within three years and cannot exceed a $1 million debt ceiling in any of the fiscal years in the interim.

If athletics can’t meet the guidelines, Apple said, "they must find ways to cut."

Committee Chairman Benjamin Kudo said, "If they can’t control (the deficit) within the three-year period, then I think Chancellor Apple will have to make some decisions, perhaps drastic decisions."

Kudo said cutting one or more of the school’s 21 teams "would be a last resort for us. Unfortunately, we’re prepared to do it, if that’s what’s called for, because our primary purpose is to educate students." Funding athletics, Kudo said, "can’t be at the cost of our other programs."

UH hasn’t dropped a sport since 1985, when it eliminated women’s track so that it could add softball. Track was reinstated in 2000. The last men’s sports to be dropped were track and wrestling in 1977.

The $30 million athletic program has run at a deficit for 10 of the past 12 years, including a reported $3.3 million in the past fiscal year, pending audit.

The warnings come amid an 0-11 football season in which ticket revenue is already running close to $1 million short of projections, officials said.

UH was projected to take in $4.33 million in football ticket revenue this season, and with just Saturday’s finale against Army remaining, revenue was running at about $3.35 million, including advance sales for the game.

As of Friday about 26,500 tickets had been distributed for the Army game, UH said.

Athletic director Ben Jay said Rainbow Wahine volleyball was expected to come in at or slightly better than the $894,500 projection, while the sale of season tickets for men’s basketball was "encouraging."

Jay said, "We’ll have a better idea when we look at the numbers next month, and we’ll see where we go from here."

But Jay said, "I was very clear, very honest and open with our folks at the beginning of the (fiscal) year that we had ambitious goals and we had to hit them."

Jay said any immediate cuts would likely come in capital equipment costs and "whatever we can do overall administratively without impacting recruiting or our student-athletes."

Jay said UH must field at least 16 teams to maintain its NCAA Division I status and will look at "program reduction if necessary. We’re not targeting any one sport; we’d look at different models. The reality is, Can we support all these sports or not?"

Kudo said, "If the gate receipts, season-ticket holders and sponsorships drop off, we’ve got to choose. So, it is really up to the public, too."

"We don’t want the deficits to continue," he said, "and I think that’s why some of us voted to basically write off the $13 million (accumulated net deficit). The presumption was that the athletic department will come up with a concrete program for controlling their expenses, and we’re really adamant on that. So Apple saying what he has said is a good sign to us."

13th game fell through less than a week ago

Up until as late as Saturday, the University of Hawaii had been considering adding a 13th game to its current football season, athletic director Ben Jay said Tuesday.

Jay told the Board of Regents Committee on Intercollegiate Athletics he had been in negotiation with a Pac-12 team for a December game at Aloha Stadium.

Although he would not name the prospective opponent, it is believed to have been Washington State, which became bowl eligible Saturday with a

6-5 record after a 49-37 victory over Utah.

WSU was reportedly interested in the trip as a “bowl-type” game, while UH saw it as a revenue opportunity and a way to give additional practice time to players who will be returning in 2014.

Winless UH (0-11), which ends its season Saturday against Army, had been scheduled to play an NCAA-maximum 13-game regular season this year but dropped Brigham Young when the Mountain West Conference added a

Dec. 7 championship game and requested members keep that date open.

Negotiations for an Oct. 19 game at Colo­rado fell through.

Jay said UH plans to play 13 games in 2014 — eight at home and five on the road — and the school is talking with several prospective opponents.

In addition, Jay said he has approached Aloha Stadium officials about the possibility of closing off the upper deck at the facility as a cost-saving measure when crowd size does not warrant its use.