Washington State University Athletics is expected to lose 30 million dollars in revenue because of the economic fallout from the pandemic. The WSU Regents will be asked to approve the revised Cougar Athletics budget during their meeting next week.
Documents to the board say the postponement of Fall sports, no ticket sales, and the loss of money from the Pac-12 Conference are driving the plunge in revenue.
Cougar Athletics is saving money with no sports this Fall and has reduced expenses. WSU Athletics non-contract employees are taking two-week furloughs and contract salaries have been reduced by 5%. The department’s spending for the current fiscal year has been reduced by about 5 million dollars. Before the pandemic, Cougar Athletics was already expecting to run a roughly 5 million dollar deficit this year. That means the department is now predicted to run a nearly 31 million dollar deficit in the current 2021 budget.
Long term projections to the WSU Regents shows that the pandemic has increased Cougar Athletics total accumulated debt by 15 million dollars. The total athletics debt is now predicted to peak at over 118 million dollars in the next fiscal year. WSU President Kirk Schulz in the past has said that athletics will pay back its total accumulated debt. Cougar Athletics is still projected to end its annual deficits in fiscal year 2023.