Given the current landscape across the nation, organizations and business are looking for alternative methods to save money to combat the issues caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Chief-executive-officers and higher-ranking officials for many companies are relinquishing their own funding to help off-set losses while it’s even trickled down to the NCAA.
With no clear end in sight to the financial pressure caused by the pandemic which has already canceled the annual March Madness Basketball Tournament and all of spring sports, President Mark Emmert and the association’s senior management were already taking 20-percent pay-cuts. The association’s vice presidents will take 10-percent cuts.
This after the organization already announced that the direct distribution to division one conference and schools for 2020 will be $225 million instead of the expected $600 million. Most of that was in direct correlation to the cancelation of the lucrative basketball tournament.
But are there measures that can be done on an individual school level?
There is no question that there will be a revenue loss for each program and that total shortfall will be around $5 million when it comes to West Virginia, Shane Lyons, director of athletics said
To cover that West Virginia has gone the direction of several other programs with Lyons, along with football coach Neal Brown, men’s basketball coach Bob Huggins, women’s basketball coach Mike Carey and baseball coach Randy Mazey voluntarily taking a 10-percent salary reduction beginning July 1 through June 30 of the 2021 calendar year.
That is expected to be in place for one calendar year
Additionally, Lyons said that coaches and athletic staff making more than $100,000 will receive a 5-percent reduction, while a 2.5-percent reduction will be implemented to staff salaries less than $100,000.
Also, in conjunction with the University’s announcement of general staff furloughs, nearly one-third of the athletic department’s workforce (65 employees) will be furloughed for 60 days starting May 24 and ending July 26. Some employees will not return to the department as part of reduction in force measures, and current job openings will not be filled with a hiring freeze.
“News like this is not easy. I appreciate the understanding of our staff in these uncertain times,” Lyons said. “The COVID-19 pandemic has dealt us a financial situation that requires action, and our entire department will be affected as we work to minimize the effects and maintain a fiscally responsible operation.”
Obviously, things greatly hinge on what unfolds with the availability of the football season this fall considering it is the cash cow and is the lifeblood for these colleges. Lyons remains optimistic on that front. But these cost-saving methods could help the Mountaineers navigate the waters.
Still there could be other revenue streams that make themselves available such as the possibility of ticket sales for football games as well as naming rights which Lyons and the athletic department continue to explore with various facilities such as the Coliseum and Monongalia County Ballpark
“The naming rights opportunities and new revenue streams are always a top priority,” Lyons said. “We continue to explore naming rights for the Coliseum and continue to explore the naming rights of the ballpark and other facilities that we may be able to name.”
All of these options, as well as others, will continued to be explored in the wake of the financial ramifications of the coronavirus but for now like so many other things it’s a matter of wait and see.
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