Boise State lost spring sports, but not much money. Football — that’d be a different story.
Boise State Athletic Director Curt Apsey said athletic department revenues may take a hit from the NCAA’s decision to cancel spring sports in an effort to slow the spread of coronavirus, but it won’t be a substantial one.
The baseball team lost 15 home games, two of which were against regional rivals BYU and Utah. The Broncos were scheduled to host two of the top teams in the Mountain West, San Diego State and New Mexico, and Gonzaga was coming to town in May for a pair of games.
The softball team lost all 15 of its scheduled home games. Nationally ranked Fresno State was on the way to Boise when word came down, and the team turned around. Gymnastics was scheduled to host the Mountain Rim Conference championship meet for the first time since 2016 when it attracted 1,601 spectators to Taco Bell Arena (now ExtraMile Arena).
Apsey conceded that the loss of those events will be felt, but he said without costs associated with travel in the spring, there won’t be much of a dip in the department’s bottom line for the rest of this fiscal year, which ends June 30. His claim is supported by documents obtained by the Idaho Statesman through a public records request.
In its intercollegiate athletic department financial report, submitted annually to the NCAA, Boise State reported all men’s sports, except football and basketball, combined during the 2018-19 fiscal year to produce just $2,240 in ticket sales and $798,347 in total revenue.
Comparatively, the university spent $314,205 on travel costs for men’s cross country, golf, tennis and track and field. That number would have risen significantly this year with the addition of baseball.
All Boise State women’s sports other than basketball and volleyball combined to generate $36,613 in ticket sales and $3,358,449 in total revenue, almost $1.9 million of which came from direct institutional or government support. Travel costs for those nine teams came in at $947,296.
“We knew that revenues could be affected, not just in athletics but all through our campus, and that’s certainly being considered,” Apsey said last week. “But really the focus up to this point is making sure our students on campus are cared for.”
The loss of spring sports isn’t going to have much of an impact on Boise State’s financial situation. But when compared to the $5,662,146 the Broncos’ football team collected in 2018-19 in ticket sales alone, it’s easy to see how the prospect of the coronavirus affecting football season in any way is terrifying for athletic departments.
In 2018-19, the football team generated $24,683,041 in total revenue — almost half of the $50,599,483 collected by the entire department. Men’s basketball was next at $5,146,161.
Virginia’s Bronco Mendenhall was one of the first coaches to suggest football’s regular season could be affected. Apsey didn’t specify during a conference call March 19 if conversations between university leaders had broached the subject of the fall schedule, but he said the situation is constantly evolving.
“This is not in the AD handbook, I can guarantee you that,” he said.
The virus already forced Boise State football to suspend all team activities in accordance with the Mountain West’s policy. On Wednesday, Broncos coach Bryan Harsin said players won’t return to campus until early April at the earliest, and there won’t be a Spring Game.
