Financial Woes Could Force Arizona To Cut Sports Programs

The Big 12’s riches can’t arrive soon enough for the University of Arizona, and the financially struggling athletic program could cut some of its sports teams.

One of the conference’s newest entrants in their planned 2024 addition, the Wildcats now face a $240 million school-wide shortage following significant miscalculations in their financial modeling. The shortfall was disclosed last week at a monthly faculty senate meeting.

Arizona currently fields 23 varsity teams, six more than the Big 12 average. With that comparative overage and the fiscal struggles, cuts are being considered.

“Everything’s on the table in terms of dealing with athletics,” Arizona president Robert Robbins told Tucson.com. “This is an issue that is going to require a lot of tough decisions.”

Other Big 12 expansion schools have seen significant gains following their entry into the conference. But that windfall, if it happens for Arizona, remains a year away, and the conference’s $2.28 billion media rights deal with ESPN and Fox doesn’t start until 2025. 

“Clearly this is a major problem. I obviously take it very seriously,” Robbins said.

Even Bigger Issues

Arizona operates an athletic department annual budget of about $100 million, $40 million of which has come from the school’s prior membership in the Pac-12, $30 million from ticket sales, and the rest from philanthropy and contracts. During the pandemic, the school loaned the athletic department $55 million, and that money hasn’t been paid back “fast enough,” Robbins said.

But financial pressures are also coming into athletics from an admissions policy that guarantees static tuition for each student’s four years of study, and $300 million in financial aid and scholarships — a figure that Robbins called “not financially sustainable.”

“If you look at the band from 3.75 GPA to 4.0, there are a lot of students here that pay nothing. We lose money on every one,” Robbins said.