Emmert: Football to blame for shortfall

It turns out the impact of the Washington football team's 0-12 record last season may not have been felt by only the football program. UW President Mark Emmert said yesterday that low revenue linked to last season's poor performance and a low renewal rate for football season tickets for next season were the main reasons the athletic department is now trying to shave $2.8 million from its budget, beginning with the announcement Friday that both the men's and women's swimming programs are being discontinued. The football program accounts for 85 percent of the athletic department's annual revenue, meaning that all other sports, with the exception of men's basketball, rely on the football program for funding. As of late April, the UW had sold about 37,600 season tickets for the 2009 season, down from last year's total of about 43,500. Emmert said a budget shortfall was anticipated, but that a variety of factors led to the recent discovery that more cuts than first expected were going to be necessary. Talks of moving the Apple Cup to Qwest Field as early as 2010 broke down last week when a ticket allocation agreement could not be reached. Reports estimated that the move could have earned both Washington and Washington State about $10 million over the next six years. That, coupled with the downturn in the economy, Emmert said, created a larger shortfall than was anticipated. "We knew there was going to be a shortfall," Emmert said. "The magnitude has been developing in the past months as we watched ticket sales, as we watched any potential changes around the Apple Cup. It wasn't like it came out of the blue, but on the other hand, we didn't know the severity of it." The elimination of the swimming programs is expected to account for $1.2 million of the $2.8 million the UW is trying to cut off its budget. "It was just about recognizing where we were in football revenue, which is the driver of that budget," Emmert said. "Season-ticket sales are off a bit, not having any new revenue from a relocated Apple Cup - all of those things combined." Those comments aren't quite in line with what UW athletic director Scott Woodward told the Seattle Times on Friday, when he said that the lack of Apple Cup deal had no impact on the decision to cut swimming. But Emmert did add that it wouldn't be accurate to say that the revenue generated from the proposed Apple Cup deal would have been enough to save the swimming programs. Some have criticized the UW for continuing to pump large amounts of money into its football program, while also asking for $150 million from the state Legislature for a renovation of Husky Stadium. In January, Woodward signed Nick Holt, the UW's new defensive coordinator, to a contract that pays him $700,000 a year, making him one of the highest-paid assistant coaches in the country. The school also announced recently that it will replace the field surface in Husky Stadium at an estimated cost of $350,000. Emmert said that spending that kind of money on a coaching staff is justified, however, since it helps create revenue and puts people in the seats. He also added that the total combined salary of the football assistant-coaching staff - about $2.1 million - isn't much of an increase from what it was during the Tyrone Willingham era. "What this last year showed us was that you can't support nonrevenue sports if you're not successful in football," Emmert said. "You have to have a staff that excites and energizes the fan base so that they buy tickets. If we were selling 65,000 season tickets right now, [the budget] would be a different story." Reach sports editor Christian Caple at sports@dailyuw.com.

Emmert: Football to blame for shortfall

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