COLOMBIA – The pandemic crisis in the athletics department at the University of South Carolina will be severe and will require help from the school, an official said on Friday.
The loan amount will be determined towards the end of June, sports director Ray Tanner told the Post and Courier.
“We will talk about, not today, but in the next few days or weeks, what the real bridge funding strategy for athletics will be,” said Ed Walton, executive vice president of administration and chief financial officer at USC, during a board meeting of curators. “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 can stay afloat, fix itself again with the fans in the stands and new contracts for (multimedia), and everything will come back, especially if it happens when we start winning with (new football coach Shane Beamer).
“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 due to 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 to do it.
Follow David Cloninger on Twitter @DCPandC.