Football "going away" at Hawaii?

[joshvanklomp]

http://www.kitv.com/uhfootball/ben-jay- ... z3AmqVezqE" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

HONOLULU —"There's a very real possibility of football going away," said University of Hawaii Athletics Director Ben Jay at a Board of Regents meeting Monday afternoon.

Both Jay and UH president David Lassner are meeting with the university's Board of Regents to discuss the financial conditions of the athletics program at Manoa.

Jay says the university is looking at a $2.1 million deficit this year and has operated under a budget deficit during 11 of the past 13 years.

Jay says that UH Manoa athletics faces "tough times ahead."

[kansasCowboy]

Just based on attendance alone, this is their best profitable sport. They just averaged 28k last year for 7 games. They also had some tv time. Basketball doesn't pay out as much, plus they have to fly almost triple the amount the football team has too. It would make more sense to get rid of basketball.

But that's just me.

Plus, they had a decade stint of winning, higher attendance, and bowl pay outs including a BCS bowl, what did they do with the money?

[J-Rod]

Just based on attendance alone, this is their best profitable sport. They just averaged 28k last year for 7 games. They also had some tv time. Basketball doesn't pay out as much, plus they have to fly almost triple the amount the football team has too. It would make more sense to get rid of basketball.

But that's just me.

Plus, they had a decade stint of winning, higher attendance, and bowl pay outs including a BCS bowl, what did they do with the money?

They gave it back to the upper-campus. The bane of UH footballs existence is the unwillingness of the state and university to fund the program. They believe the program serves to produce THEM revenue...it never goes back to the program.

This is yet another scare tactic...Ben Jay is not the first UH AD to make such a threat. That said....things are dire at UH. Amazing how quickly things can go to poop for non-P5 programs. It was only 3-5 years ago that Nevada and Hawaii were the "next Boise State's"...now both are struggling financially and aren't nearly what they used to be. Which is why I'm hesitant to drink the Fresno/Utah State kool-aid. Until sustained success is proven, I'll believe all those schools are having brief eras of success thanks to special QBs (Kaepernick, Brennan, Carr, Keeton, etc.). That is it....not a sign of consistency ahead, purely a one-off era.

[Wyokie]

Just based on attendance alone, this is their best profitable sport. They just averaged 28k last year for 7 games. They also had some tv time. Basketball doesn't pay out as much, plus they have to fly almost triple the amount the football team has too. It would make more sense to get rid of basketball.

But that's just me.

Plus, they had a decade stint of winning, higher attendance, and bowl pay outs including a BCS bowl, what did they do with the money?

They gave it back to the upper-campus. The bane of UH footballs existence is the unwillingness of the state and university to fund the program. They believe the program serves to produce THEM revenue...it never goes back to the program.

The politics in the Islands is cutthroat bad, almost as bad as D.C.

Plus UH wants a smaller sized football stadium built soon. Around 35K seats. Good luck on that idea.

[ragtimejoe1]

Perfect example of why revenue sports should not be included in Title IX. Hawaii football makes money. It is in no way fair to punish the entire men's program at HI because of financial difficulties. Separate football then address income deficits equally among the rest of the sports. Make sure HI football budget is covered by football revenue and remaining revenue can be used to help keep other sports afloat; obviously some other cuts would be in order.