FAMU to make up athletic department's shortfall
By Heath A. Smith
DEMOCRAT STAFF WRITER
Florida A&M University officials agreed Tuesday to temporarily bail out its financially struggling athletic department, which fell nearly $3million below its projected revenue goal for the 2003-2004 calendar year.
To cover the shortfall, the athletic department has had to transfer the $2.5million it had in reserve funds and the university also agreed to defer the $700,000 expense for athletic scholarships this year.
According to documents obtained from Tuesday's board of trustees meeting, as of March31, the athletic department had generated only $5.9million of the $9.1million in revenue it had projected this calendar year. Expenses totalled $7.7million.
Joseph RamseyII, special assistant to FAMU President Fred Gainous, told trustees Tuesday that he already has cut $1.15million in expenses in an effort to get the athletic department back on the right financial path. He said approximately 14 positions have been eliminated from the athletic department payroll.
"We were bloated as a staff," Ramsey said.
Other savings will be realized with cutbacks in other areas, including staff and team travel expenses, according to Ramsey.
Ramsey inherited the budget in February when he replaced former interim athletic director J.R.E. LeeIII, who resigned after the BOT voted to delay the football program's move to DivisionI-A.
As part of the plan to move FAMU to DivisionI-A, Lee got the university an exclusive media-rights deal with the Harlem, N.Y.-based Urban Broadcasting Company, which was supposed to guarantee the athletic department $1.5million a year over a five-year period.
Although UBC has until the end of the fiscal year to pay FAMU, school officials don't expect the company to pay and plan to exercise an out clause in the contract. UBC president Peggy Dodson has said she would **** FAMU if it exercised the clause.
In addition to the UBC deal, Lee also hired additional staff, substantially inflating the payroll budget for this year.
Ramsey said the budget shortfall underscores the problems FAMU encountered in attempting to move its football program to NCAA Division I-A from I-AA.
"This is one of the things that the president pointed out," Ramsey said. "It is one of the reasons why we had to reconsider (the move to DivisionI-A football)."
The athletic department fell short in football ticket sales by half of what was projected, or $175,000, and took in only $376,000 in home-game revenue, which was $199,000 less than projected in the budget.
In addition, FAMU booster donations fell far shy of projections with only $30,000 raised, according to the report. The athletic department was counting on the boosters contributing $150,000 in revenue.
Ramsey said the athletic department also suffered from a $200,000 accounting error when it was discovered that projected revenue from playing in the Circle City Classic was mistakenly figured into the budget twice.
"That put us in a deficit from the start ... It was a problem in the accounting area from the last (athletic) administration," Ramsey said.
Larry Reese, vice president for administrative and fiscal affairs said he'd been working with Ramsey on building next year's budget. Reese said the projections would be "more realistic" and "more conservative."
Reese added that even with the necessary measures put in place, it would take more than a year to get out of the red.
Gainous said he was just happy that the issue was addressed before the deficit became any larger.
"I'm appreciative of the effort Dr.Ramsey and vice president Reese have put into this process," Gainous said Tuesday evening. "We were overly optimistic in revenue generation. We have taken appropriate actions to address these issues."
Ramsey didn't spell out how individual programs would be affected by the budget cuts next year, but some coaches are already preparing for smaller budgets.
"I'm trying not to travel as much as I did this year anyway," FAMU baseball coach Joe Durant said. "It sure won't bother me as far as I'm concerned."
As far as booster support, Sen.Al LawsonJr., interim chairman of the boosters executive board said an overhaul of the organization should lead to more financial support for the athletic department in the future. Lawson said the boosters' goal was to raise $750,000 next year for the athletic department.
"There is a lot of untapped potential," Lawson said. "It just has to be organized
I'm guessing most of the athletic revenue is coming in from Football. Next season's schedule isn't going to help much either...they should be straight once they get back into the MEAC and folks want to go to games again.
He has nothing better to do with his time, he has FAMU on the brain.
Anyone that reads the article will understand that this is some D-1 backlash
Why would he go to a tallahassee news site to get some dirt on a school that is not even in his conference? Makes you wonder
I really feel sorry for him, because he hasn't won a discussion with a Rattler or any other MEAC schools. :mrgreen:
Yea Right, IF U GON STEP TO US (FAMU OR MEAC), U BETTER COME CORRECT
He has nothing better to do with his time, he has FAMU on the brain.
Anyone that reads the article will understand that this is some D-1 backlash
Why would he go to a tallahassee news site to get some dirt on a school that is not even in his conference? Makes you wonder
I really feel sorry for him, because he hasn't won a discussion with a Rattler or any other MEAC schools. :mrgreen:
Yea Right, IF U GON STEP TO US (FAMU OR MEAC), U BETTER COME CORRECT
TALK THAT STUFF, NOW ROLL WIT IT! Let it be heard: I REPRESENT. . . !
the real reason y'all don't have money is cuz you had to pay a hefty sum after trashing the HU locker room following a devastating loss during football season... lol... BUT ON THE REALS.. I feel bad.. no matter how much I might not like FAMU ( I ALMOST went there) no HBCU should be short on funds... that's ruff, cuz the tuition goes sky high.... LOL.. FAMU students.. go to the futha-mucking games!!!!! (you like that huh.. lol :wink: )
