3/25/2013: Let’s help UO’s VPFA (and former athletic department chief financial officer) Jamie Moffitt find the money to pay for the faculty raises in the Lariviere plan. Every 1% raise for the faculty (TTF and NTTF) costs UO about $910K. Add in the variable benefit costs and it’s about $1.15M.
Sharon Rudnick has asked the faculty for suggestions on where to find the money. Here’s one. Pat Kilkenny’s baseball program cost UO millions in fixed costs – we still owe about $5 million on a balloon loan for his PK Park. We’re stuck with that “gift”. But, according to the official AD data posted at GoDucks.com, this year’s variable costs for baseball will be almost $2.2 million:
while revenue is only projected at $385K:
So drop baseball and we’d certainly save $1.8 million next year, enough for a 1.6% raise for the faculty. But that’s ignoring their share of the $52M in athletics department “administrative expenses”. Prorate that on the basis of baseball’s share of variable costs, $2.1M/$30M=7%, and get another $3.5M. Let’s be real conservative and call it $4.6 million in savings total. That’s enough to pay for the 4% merit pool the union is calling for in 2014-15.
Thinking about Title 9 compliance? Drop baseball and we could drop Kilkenny’s competitive cheerleading program too. That would save another $800K plus admin expenses – enough to cut tuition by about $100 for every in-state student.