Schulz says Cougars making progress in balancing athletic budget

Things are looking up in the fiscal department for WSU athletics according to president Kirk Schulz. Schulz spoke to Shanon Quinn of the Moscow Pullman Daily News about the ongoing effort to balance the budget this week. In the interview Schulz says he expects that budget will be balanced within 3 years as they explore new revenue streams and cut spending.

Schulz says that they have cut costs from $3 to $4 million from the previous year. He says that athletic director Bill Moos has been able to save money through leaving some positions empty and finding ways to spend less on travel.

Some of the ideas Schulz and Moos are still working on to create new revenue are a student fee for the athletics and alcohol sales in Martin Stadium. The athletic fee of $50 a year still has not appeared on a student ballot and it’s future is uncertain. WSU is still in negotiations with the LCB after expecting to start selling alcohol at the beginning of the 2016 season. Schulz spoke to the state of the negotiations.

"We’re continuing dialogue," Schulz said. "Taking our time to do it right."

One area that revenue is already increasing is ticket sales. There has been an uptick after back-to-back bowl games. Schulz explained there strategy behind increasing ticket sales.

"We’ve been really aggressive on ticket sales," Schulz said, adding part of the plan introduced in September was to work with an outside firm for ticket sales. "We actually had a better year than expected with ticket sales and ticket revenue. Some of those things we put in place this summer are starting to pay off."

With the state legislature threatening to give oversight to college athletic budgets, it’s good to see WSU getting a head start.

Football

WSU: Athletics deficit shrinking | | dnews.com
Washington State University President Kirk Schulz says the university’s $13 million athletic budget deficit is shrinking and he expects that within three years the department will have a balanced budget.

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