COLOMBIA – The pandemic crisis in the athletic department at the University of South Carolina will be severe and will require help from the school.
The loan amount will be determined towards the end of June, sporting director Ray Tanner told the Post and Courier. The COVID-induced misfortunes of this academic financial year are expected to continue into the next year.
“We will talk about … in the next few days or weeks, what the real bridge funding strategy for sport will be,” USC Chief Financial Officer Ed Walton told trustees at a meeting on Friday. “It will have to be built, in my opinion, as a loan, but we will be able to lend enough money for athletics so that it stays afloat, straightens up again with the fans in the stands and new contracts (multimedia).
“But with all that said, we are going to have to borrow significant money for athletics and collect it over the years to come.”
Tanner previously estimated that COVID would cause a deficit of $ 58 million for the athletics department, due to the loss of two football matches at home and the public restricted to the five that were played.
Participation in basketball games was also limited and several games were interrupted with the late start of the season and the men’s team had to take three breaks due to problems with COVID.
USC did not cut any high school sports during the crisis, unlike several other universities, including Clemson, Stanford and Iowa. President Bob Caslen said last month that the cut in sports was discussed and is the last thing the school wants to do, although he said that in the end, the USC may have no other choice.
The USC has been one of the few athletic departments across the country to really profit from the past few years.
The department has improved its facilities tremendously over the past 10 years, but has had to reach a maximum of $ 200 million in credit to do so. And the usual financial injection from the SEC’s TV package, which was over $ 44 million last year, will be severely reduced this year.
Andy Shain contributed to this report.
Follow David Cloninger on Twitter @DCPandC.