Financial Woos Continue

[60s Savage]

"Eastern Washington athletics faces budget cuts of “20-30 percent” due to loss of $2.1 million in revenue" Spokesman Review 5/15/20 I'm curious where these cuts will be made. Scholarships? Facilities/Supplies/Travel? Staff Salaries/Layoffs? Mutual Agreement Cancellations? Entire or partial 2020 Season lost? We are definitely in never-expected times. I wish all Eagles (and Savages) good health and secure finances. Go Eags!

 

[60s Savage]

Woos? What the H happened?

 

[Guitarguy]

Did anyone catch the BOT meeting last week? Did EWU declare a financial emergency?

Grumblings about athletics have persisted since our move to FCS, but for the first time, I'm concerned that Eastern may go backwards or eliminate sports. Like many businesses, EWU is fighting for its survival. Everything is on the table.

 

[Obzerver]

Wonder how many sports we need to have to stay in D1? Title IX is in play so keep soccer, volleyball. basketball (both womens and men) and football. The rest can go. The listed sports are the ones that matter that build our brand and gives us positive exposure. Sink the money into those along with the facilities.
Understand that's not going to happen but I could live with that. If it wasn't for football, soccer and basketball nobody would know we exist. Fire away...

 

[ewueagle2010]

Wonder how many sports we need to have to stay in D1? Title IX is in play so keep soccer, volleyball. basketball (both womens and men) and football. The rest can go. The listed sports are the ones that matter that build our brand and gives us positive exposure. Sink the money into those along with the facilities.
Understand that's not going to happen but I could live with that. If it wasn't for football, soccer and basketball nobody would know we exist. Fire away...

We are already at the minimum in sports to remain in the Big Sky. Eliminating even one sport (mens or womens) is not an option. Football and basketball especially, are going to be places looked at, to generate more revenue. Basketball has the most potential, IMO, as it has limited travel costs (as compared to football) and also has the most empty seats to be filled. Kick in the money generated to make NCAA tournaments and you're looking at substantial gains in revenue.

As far as the BOT, no, they tabled the financial crisis discussion to my understanding. They moved forward with the already proposed cuts to the University, which included pulling back the 2 million dollars the University was giving to athletics (about 20% of their operating budget), cut the budget by an additional 3%, which was an across the board cut, and also the students voted in March to reduce the amount of S&A fees going to athletics by $475,000. This all equates to the roughly 30% cuts Ms. Hickey mentioned last week.

I don't get the feeling the BOT will cut athletics, or even move down to D2 as I think they see the benefits of remaining D1. However, EWU athletics need to become self sufficient immediately and that was made pretty clear. That means we as alums and fans, need to step up.