LAS CRUCES - College coaches and athletic directors are just like the rest of us when trying to determine when life will return to normalcy in the midst of the COVID-19 crisis.
Nobody knows anything for certain.
New Mexico State athletics director Mario Moccia doesn't claim to have all the answers, but like any administrator across the country, he has been busy planning for a certain budget hit in Fiscal Year 2021 and what a delayed or cancelled football season would mean to an already tight budget.
New Mexico State received $1.1 million from the NCAA for FY 20, but with the cancellation of the NCAA Tournament, schools will receive considerably less. NM State will also not receive $50,000 for winning the WAC men's basketball tournament or the $100,000 distribution from the WAC as a result.
Due to the cancellation of spring competitions, NM State will lose a projected $13,100 in ticket revenue from baseball and softball. But the school will save approximately $310,000 in travel, facility and umpire costs this spring.
Any potential savings will quickly be shifted, however, as the university estimates an additional $310,000 in additional scholarships next year for seniors from spring sports who plan to return.
More: Extended offseason: Q&A with New Mexico State football coach Doug Martin
More: NCAA grants spring-sport athletes extra year of eligibility
There are more questions than answers at this point, but Moccia took the time to answer a few questions recently:
Las Cruces Sun-News: Is there anything that concerns you as the Athletic Director or questions you have regarding the weeks and months ahead?
Mario Moccia: It's always fear of the unknown. I'm confident there will be an end to this situation but when there is an end, how badly does it affect our financial situation? How does it affect sports from a spectator standpoint?
So much of what we do is try to sell tickets and giveaways and try to get fans into the stands. Is there a fear of crowds or large gatherings?
I think we feel we are doing everything we can from a marketing standpoint reaching out to fans and donors.
The other fear is how quickly does the economy rebound? It was running at a pretty darn good clip. I think everyone is hopeful it will return to something similar but will it and if so, how long will that take?
Sun-News: Is there a revenue hit for Fiscal Year 2021 that you expect?
Moccia: I think the range we gave was between $350,000 and $1.1 million. The lost NCAA revenue, the state will go into special session at some point in the summer. There are so many unknowns now that it will be hard to predict.
Sun-News: Has university leadership met with you yet to determine if there is a drop dead date to determine what next year's budget will look like given there will be less money from the NCAA and unknowns from the state? Are you planning for a smaller budget and what could that mean to your programs?
Moccia: Jason since 2009 NM State athletics has had to provide a budget management and deficit reduction plan which states we must have a monthly meeting with the campus leadership (President, Chancellor, campus CFO, Campus budget director as well as athletics CFO, COO and AD) so we meet regularly and have discussed our budget going forward in broad strokes. With this plan we are under from the State of New Mexico, we plan our budget out until the deficit is paid off, which is FY 26 so our budget is finalized for many years in the future in order to illustrate our owed debt payment back to the University.
Now we are all aware of possible changes to our budget from a state, University, student fee and NCAA standpoint so we have tried to establish a best and worse case scenario from a financial standpoint as well as identify cost savings measures to match the potential reduction in revenue from one or several of the mentioned sources. A drop dead date hasn’t been identified because we need to see what enrollment looks like, when the legislature will meet in special session, etc.
We are planning a “hit” to the budget and that would mean tightening our belts even more. I would use the phrase “trimming the fat” but anyone associated with the Aggies know there isn’t much of any fat on our body.
Sun-News: How much were you awarded in capital outlay for next year and for which projects?
Moccia: NM State athletics received $1 million for a new scoreboard in the Pan American Center and $550,000 for lights on our soccer field in HB 349. $150,000 in general fund money was also appropriated for some improvements to the Pan American Center but was line item vetoed in the final capital outlay legislation. In the Governor’s veto message she articulated that the appropriation vetoes were made to several general fund projects for financial prudency, especially given the COVID 19 impact on the state.
Sun-News: Are you still counting on that money and those projects to be completed next year or could whatever special session to address virus concerns affect those monies?
Moccia: As we are all well aware, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the state budget is large. Should there be a special session, the legislature and the executive will be looking at ways to shore up deficits in the overall budget by evaluating all general fund appropriations. The capital outlay requests for the scoreboard and the soccer field lights were not appropriated with general funds. They were both funded through the severance tax bond appropriation process. Cutting these projects will not have an effect on the state budget and we are hopeful that the severance tax bond projects will proceed through the normal process.
Sun-News: How important is summer school for student athletes when determining where you department could potentially save money if needed?
Moccia: If you recall several years ago when the NCAA wanted to loosen the grip of AAU coaches, they allowed coaches to have more access to players, which meant more players stayed on campus in the summer. ... Summer school is still predominately football and men's and women's basketball, but it's a way we can ensure they are still training and have access to at least decent nutrition and have access to academics. In my mind, it is pretty critical. I told our folks that when it comes down to what has to be cut, summer school would be at the bottom because I think it's critical to what we are doing.
Sun-News: Do you expect a shortened or cancelled college football season? If shortened, is there language in the guarantee game contracts that would still allow you to collect that revenue?
Moccia: Any speculation on this is premature. I saw a great quote from Dr. Fauci, “We will not determine the timeline the virus will determine the timeline”. Who determines the “all clear” or “return to normalcy” will I am sure be a big and possibly contentious upcoming debate.
As to your hypothetical question on a shortened football season. We have not had the language analyzed but many of these contracts carry standard language of “war, civil disobedience, acts of god, etc.” Where does this standard boilerplate fit in with this situation? That would be something for the lawyers to discuss.
Sun-News: If cancelled, would you approach the university for some form of assistance? ie more from university transfer, moving a debt payment?
Moccia: The two games next year vs. UCLA and Florida are worth around $2.75 million. There is no modeling or ability to cut that could make up for that revenue so those games are critical to our entire operation. As of now the only thing I could think of would be to allow the department to run a deficit for this year and increase the payback plan. We have balanced the budget 10 of the last 11 years and I anticipate this fiscal year as well making it 11 of the last 12 years so we have more than shown ourselves to be good stewards of the money we have made or been given. The result would be playing multiple buy games for a significant number of years.
Sun-News: Do you know if there will be an even playing field in terms of preparation time whenever it's determined that college football games will be played?
Moccia: In the past, at least the time of preparation is something we had the same as Alabama and UCLA. We each had X amount of days to prepare for the season. I think it would be nice if everyone has the same preparation but I don't know if it's critical. ... I do want to believe that as the weeks go on, at this end of this month we will have a much clearer picture, but you can't say that with any amount of certainty.
Sun-News: Do you know yet what the impact would be if all spring sports seniors who received scholarship money last year returned at the same assistance rate? What have you told coaches regarding deciding what seniors would get less or nothing?
Moccia: From a financial “worst case scenario” we were estimating around $350,000 from a financial impact if all seniors returned and to date revised that down to around $310,200. This is not a final number but it is getting closer to a final. In previous coaches meetings, Nate Flores, our Associate AD for Compliance, reviewed all the NCAA guidelines with the head coaches and it will be their decision to make.
Sun-News: There should also be considerable savings? What have you told folks who bought season tickets for baseball/softball?
Moccia: We are factoring any potential savings this fiscal year into what is going to most assuredly be a shortfall next year. We have put more or less a moratorium on spending this fiscal year until the future financial picture becomes more clear. Season ticket holders in baseball and softball have been told their purchases would be good for next year. So we will issue them their season tickets next year at no cost.
Sun-News: I know that your department is already small, but have you or your staff or coaches considered forfeiting some salary? Have you had to cut positions from your staff?
Moccia: A few comments, nothing is off the table but we would like to see what the financial future looks like before anything is put in place. A quick reminder as an example that USA Today listed our football coaching staff ranked at 120 of 121 programs from a salary standpoint just last year so we need to be mindful of our staffs personal situations. We have not cut positions from our staff.
Sun-News: What was the expected Learfield guarantee and has it been affected since there are not spring sports events happening?
Moccia: The guarantee payment for this fiscal year from Learfield is $1,075,000. At the present time I do not anticipate a disruption in this payment for the fiscal year.
Sports Editor Jason Groves can be reached at jgroves@lcsun-news.com or 575-541-5459. Follow him on Twitter @jpgroves.
"to have an impact" - Google News
April 11, 2020 at 05:23AM
https://ift.tt/2V2Rcxj
AD discusses COVID-19's potential financial impact on New Mexico State athletics - Las Cruces Sun-News
"to have an impact" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2OtZUAR
Shoes Man Tutorial
Pos News Update
Meme Update
Korean Entertainment News
Japan News Update
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "AD discusses COVID-19's potential financial impact on New Mexico State athletics - Las Cruces Sun-News"
Post a Comment