Makin' money
Athletic Department makes financial decisions
By William Strome, Staff Writer
June 6, 2007 | 11:07 p.m.
Despite constant criticism the Ohio University Athletic Department has endured over the past year, Robert Andrey continues to contribute to the rejuvenating of the department with the addition of a sports marketing firm, more profitable non-conference schedules for football and men’s basketball, and a potential indoor practice facility in the upcoming years.
Andrey joined the department in December 2005 as Associate Athletics Director for Business and Internal Operations. In June 2005, the university brought in a new Athletic Director, Kirby Hocutt. When Hocutt arrived, the department was already in financial stress with a debt of over $1 million left by the previous athletic director.
“We needed an executive level administrator with extensive experience in finance to assess our situation and help us move forward,” Hocutt said. Fortunately for Hocutt and the university, a debt problem was not foreign to Andrey.
“At American University we were in a similar situation,” Andrey said. “We had a significant deficit and were getting some support but needed to find ways to make more revenue.”
“Our department as it stands is already under significant financial stress. Not to mention, expenses have been increasing due to inflation,” Hocutt said.
With that in mind, Andrey identifies ways to utilize the finances responsibly and efficiently. He has a final say in the ultimate financial decisions while overseeing the finances within the department on a day-to-day basis.
“We want to cut costs and operate on a more effective level. We will make restrictions in order to stretch dollars more creatively to generate revenue and better our programs. We are always looking for ways to expand our products and expose people to our department.” Andrey said.
As for stirring rumors surrounding a new indoor practice facility, the department has contacted contractors and discussed design ideas but that’s as far as it goes. Andrey said the facility, aside from football, would be for all athletic teams to use for winter practice, conditioning, and work outs.
“The facility’s service would be for the swimming and diving teams along with all sports in all capacities. This project will not be underway until any or all of the improvements are done and all of the necessary funding for the facility is paid for,” Andrey said.
Recently, Ohio University has joined forces with ISP Sports, a major collegian sports marketing firm. ISP works with larger schools like Georgia, UCLA and Florida State and working with schools in Ohio like Miami, Cincinnati and Kent State. According to Andrey, ISP allows Ohio University to generate more publicity by gaining statewide sponsors as opposed to solely those on the local level.
“Two of our last three deals have been the biggest in the department’s history,” Andrey said. “Sprint being one and we are about to sign our largest financial deal with a major bank.”
Hocutt confirmed Andrey’s news and said, “Citizens Bank is our newest and largest corporate sponsor in department history that I know of. They are now Ohio University’s official banking partner.”
“ISP will pay Ohio University $320,000 annually for the rights to sell our advertising, signage and sponsorship inventory,” Andrey said.
Corporate sponsorships aren’t the only way Andrey and the department are finding ways to generate revenue. To say the student body would be excited about the football and basketball teams playing tougher and more prestigious non-conference opponents would be quite an understatement. Not to mention, make some money out of it as well.
To name a few, the Bobcat men’s basketball team will travel to the University of Maryland on Dec. 12 (25-9,3rd in the Atlantic Coast Conference), the University of Kansas on Dec. 15 (33-5, 1st in the Big XII) and a trip to Hawaii for the Rainbow Classic against major schools like Georgia, BYU and Northwestern on Dec. 18-22. All of which are expected to be aired on ESPN.
Andrey said, “These games are a win-win for the department and finances. At American, we played in the Rainbow Classic and let me tell you, even with one-third the budget than OU, it helped out tremendously.”
Are these games too expensive for Ohio University to travel and play in? Andrey said, in Hawaii during the classic, everything, including accommodations and travel, is paid for with the exception of food. As for generating money, $70,000 will be received from the Terrapins and $65,000 from the Jayhawks.
On Sept. 15, the football team will head to Virginia Tech (10-3, 6-2), where in 2005 the Bobcats were routed 45-0. “We’re getting $500,000 from VT and when we play OSU down the road in two years, we get $700,000 from them,” Andrey said.
Many students wonder why the Bobcats have to go on the road to play these teams but in reality, it’s a hassle for teams to travel to Athens, to play a MAC school. According to Andrey, OU will participate in “2-for-1’s” which is what they have planned for against Northwestern. In 2005 the football team traveled to Northwestern where they fell 38-14 to the Wildcats. In turn, Northwestern is scheduled to play at OU; then in the following year, the Bobcats have to travel back to Northwestern.
“It’s great to have a big crowd and a well known team come to town, but even if tickets were sold out and the concessions made a lot of money, financially, it’s still not comparable to playing on the road,” Andrey said.
As for playing more games on the road, especially in football, Andrey and the department do not want to jeopardize a successful season. (If Ohio has another great year in the MAC like in 2006, if they loose to two or three bigger opponents, those games could cost them a bowl bid.)
“We want a big revenue game a year but are respecting to Coach Solich’s scheduling philosophy. We want to put ourselves in a position to win as many games as possible,” Andrey said. The Bobcats have been pursuing talks with the Big XII and the Southeastern Conference (SEC) for potential non-conference games in 2008, 2009 and beyond.
Unfortunately for three programs, cutting them entirely was in the department’s best interest. Women’s lacrosse, men’s swimming and diving and men’s indoor and outdoor track and field were the victims to this verdict.
“There are no upsides on a personal level of losing sports programs,” said Andrey, who was a former student athlete himself at Millersville University in Pennsylvania. “Financially though, we did the most drastic thing a department can do.”
The university had the option to go non-scholarships but Andrey said he believed the university wouldn’t compete as well competitively without them. The university is also honoring the scholarships of those students whose programs were cut. The scholarships will end when the four years of eligibility run out or the student graduates, which ever comes first.
As of now, the dismissal of four varsity programs has and will continue to move the department closer to balancing the budget. Fortunately, Andrey said, there will be no further programs cut. In order to remain in the Mid-American Conference, Ohio University must support 16 programs.
Dropping athletic programs is one big way to solve a financial burden but are there any others aside from corporate sponsorship?
“We have 35 areas for improvement with respect to finances,” Andrey said. “If we do all of them we’ll only save $100,000. How do we close the big gap?”
Overall, Andrey just wants to get the department’s debt to break even. Andrey said he believes breaking even in 2010 would be a lofty goal, 2011 is much more legit with a possibility of a surplus. The department has no immediate plans other than reinvestment if a surplus were to arise.
“It’s a collective problem and it’s going to take time. There’s no one person to blame, we’re just going to have to fix this through a smart and frugal decision making process by maintaining ourselves within our budget and financial confines.
Right now, our focus is on supporting our sponsored programs and maintaining the budget. We need to sustain success in those programs and also abide by the president’s wishes,” Andrey said.