Rarely does the Kansas University Athletics Corp. board conduct a special meeting. And never has the KUAC board met on a Sunday morning.
Things change.
At its regular February meeting on Wednesday afternoon at Parrott Complex, board members learned they will meet again at 10 a.m. on March 4, the day the men’s basketball regular season ends with a 1 p.m. game against Missouri.
Board meetings are almost always held in conjunction with football or men’s basketball events in deference to out-of-town alumni members.
Why the special meeting?
“We’re in a revenue pinch,” said Don Steeples, a professor of geology who heads the KUAC finance committee.
The pinch isn’t now. In fact, Susan Wachter, the athletics department’s chief financial officer, updated the 2000-2001 fiscal year budget on Wednesday, and there were no red flags.
The problem is the future.
“After meeting with the chancellor,” KU athletics director Bob Frederick said, “it was decided that rather than try to solve the budget for next year to solve it for a five-year period.”
Over the next five years, Steeples said, expenses will certainly rise, but no spike in income appears evident.
One sure way to boost KUAC income would be to rejuvenate football crowds stagnant for the past five years. Kansas has ranked 10th or 11th in Big 12 football attendance since the conference’s inception in 1996.
Along those lines, KU’s promotions department presented its comprehensive plan to thump the tub for football this fall. Board members were presented a 14-page booklet that details marketing plans for the upcoming season.
Not included was the status of the Oct. 20 game against Missouri that might be played at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City.
Among the ticket promotions was a Pick Three plan that will allow a buyer to choose a reserved seat to any three KU home games for $80. Included among the three would be the Nebraska game on Nov. 3 that carries a $40 ticket price. It was also noted that the north end zone general admission ticket will cost $15. That’s $5 less than last year.
Also on Wednesday:
Scott McMichael, head of the Williams Fund, announced that contributions to date are at $2.6 million. “That’s about $100,000 ahead of last year,” McMichael said.
The board approved a student-athlete code of conduct that stipulates a faculty member be a part of all initial and appellate panels. The code will go into effect this fall.
