From the Arkansas Advocate:
The University of Arkansas Board of Trustees authorized the system president Monday to provide $3.4 million in additional funding for UA Fayetteville’s athletics, less than the $6 million the panel sought in new funding earlier this year.
The decision came after UA System Jay Silveria identified several ways to add to the athletic program’s budget short of charging students an athletics fee.
The board in January approved a resolution that called for the cancellation of an annual revenue transfer from the athletics department to the university, and instructed the institution to generate $6 million in new revenue for the department.
“While the resolution calls for the development of a plan to generate $6 million annually through such offsets and forbearance, this amount has proved difficult to accomplish,” Silveria wrote in a memo to the panel.
The board in January also directed the athletics department to generate at least $5 million annually for a fund dedicated to supporting the Razorback football team.
The board’s vote this year to divert school money to athletics has prompted concern from lawmakers and students. The move comes as universities feel pressure to generate more revenue to stay competitive in a new system where student-athletes can profit from Name, Image and Likeness deals.
Under the plan outlined by Silveria, the athletic department’s budget would increase by $3.4 million by fiscal year 2027. That amount would increase to $3.55 million fiscal year 2030, according to Silveria, by taking the following actions:
– Charging in-state tuition for non-resident student athletes
– Eliminating fees charged to the university by the department for alcohol awareness training, parking and student government
– Transferring marching band costs from the department to the university
– Transferring public transit costs on game days to the university
– Charging the university fair market value for the chancellor’s and president’s suites in Razorback Stadium, along with the current discount for faculty and staff tickets
– Reallocating a larger percentage of the pouring rights contract to the department
– Assigning all revenue for special events parking to the department
“While the University must consider this plan and other institutional goals in its budgeting and resource allocation process, it is important to note that adopting a student fee for athletics would be inconsistent with the resolution’s stated objective to maintain the Department as a financially self-supporting enterprise of the University,” Silveria wrote.
Monday’s resolution delegates to Silveria “the discretion to authorize funding plans that fall short of the $6 million upon (a) the President’s determination that the parties have used their best efforts to meet the Board’s objectives and (b) an executed Memorandum of Understanding between the Chancellor and Director of Athletics.”
Conversations about athletics funding began in the fall when Silveria asked the chancellor and athletics director to develop a plan to increase funding by $15 million annually for the athletics department after the board discussed challenges regarding athletics funding at its September meeting.
The request came as the search for a new Razorback football coach demonstrated the need for more money to be competitive following the federal court’s approval of the House v. NCAA settlement, which authorized college athletic programs to share about $20.5 million in annual revenue with student-athletes, creating a budget shortfall for programs like the UA’s, Silveria wrote in his letter.
Three UA trustees voted against Monday’s resolution, including Kevin Crass who said he did so because he opposed January’s resolution.
“I applaud those that worked to come to this resolution and the delegation to the president,” Crass said. “I hope we can implement the original resolution in a way that will have a de minimis if any effect on the cost students pay to go to the University of Arkansas.”
Trustees Judd Deere, the governor’s former deputy chief of staff, and Steve Cox, a former Razorback and NFL football player, also voted against the resolution.
A bipartisan group of more than two dozen state lawmakers expressed concerns about students bearing the cost of generating more revenue for athletics in a Feb. 17 letter.
The lawmakers asked the board to repeal the resolution, which they said “raises serious concerns about fiscal prioritization, fiscal responsibility, and institutional focus.”
“Expanding subsidies or creating new financial commitments without thorough, independent analysis will ultimately shift costs onto those least able to afford them through increased student fees, reallocations within the institution’s budget, or future demands on state appropriations,” they wrote.
The discussion continued during a budget hearing Wednesday as UA Chancellor Charles Robinson told lawmakers some of the money the university is being asked to send athletics will be absorbed in their budget because they “don’t want to tax our students any more than we already unfortunately have to in order to just meet the needs of our growth.”
“But there will be a portion of this, depending on how much the board settles on in terms of the amount of money, that will come from the student body,” Robinson said. “That’s inevitable.”
Last week’s budget meeting took place just hours after the university announced a five-year deal with Tyson Foods that would place the company’s logo on the jerseys of all 19 Arkansas teams, with about 90% of the money generated by the partnership expected to flow to students through NIL opportunities.
UA students are expected to voice their opinion on the matter this week. The student body is voting on a referendum created by the Associated Student Government that asks if undergrads support potential actions by the board that could result in increased student tuition or mandatory student athletics fees.
Associated Student Government Senator Jaxon Hatfield said he and his colleagues intend to share the results of the vote with university administrators, trustees and elected officials.
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