Fredericton Daily Gleaner
University of New Brunswick athletic director Kevin Dickie said the operating budget for the school's athletic program has been reduced for 2010-11 in keeping with the school's plan to cut expenses in Fredericton by $2.5 million, beginning in April.
"But it's manageable, and it's fair," said Dickie. "I'm comfortable with the budget that we received."
The operating budget for the school's eight varsity teams, excluding coach's salaries, is roughly $400,000, with essential regular season conference travel within the Atlantic University Sport scheduling framework accounting for one-third of that figure.
Despite escalating costs of transportation, meals and accommodations, and less money to work with, Dickie said the effect on athletes and fans will be minimal.
He said the department did "a thorough investigation of where we're spending our money, and did the best we could to trim the fat."
One example he indicated was in the Varsity Reds' sponsorship of various community initiatives.
"It's overwhelming what we've given back to the community and the different parts of the community," he said. "When you add it all together, it's pretty significant. We can keep providing for activities, but maybe it has to be a different form of sponsorship. Maybe we can give groups opportunities to auction off things that are a part of our program. Maybe our sponsorship can be a night at a hockey game, for instance, or a night at a basketball game or a soccer event that a group can use or use as an auction item."
Other cost-saving measures would be "departmental," said Dickie. "Is there a new best practice out there that can we do business differently and save some costs? We did a thorough investigation of that and found out there's no doubt we can. He said there will be no impact on the athletes or the quality of their competitive experience at UNB.
They won't, for instance, stay in cheaper hotels or assign four to a room rather than two as a cost-saving measure.
"Absolutely not," said Dickie. "We will not compromise the competitive advantage for our teams," said Dickie. "No way. Our attempt will be for it (cost-cutting) to be seamless except for me and the financial assistant. We're trying to make it as seamless on the different teams as we can be."
He believes athletes at UNB will soon have "the best athletic corridor facilities of anywhere in North America," for schools of comparable size.
"I would think that if they walk into the newly refurbished Aitken Centre, and they walk onto the new turf field with the dome on it, and they walk into the new Richard J. Currie Center, I would think that they think we've got it going pretty good," he said.
Nor does he expect cutbacks in coaching staffs, meaning recently added full-time coaches Dan McMorran, the men's volleyball coach, strength and conditioning coach Ken Seaman, who works primarily with the hockey program, or associate hockey coach Todd Sparks, are safe.
He said a business plan was created which allowed the program to fund those initiatives.
Nor will schedules be compromised, said Dickie. For instance, the women's basketball team travelled to the University of Calgary Invitational, the women's volleyball team's attended the University of Toronto Invitational and the hockey team's pre-season travel included games against NCAA competition in Massachusetts, Vermont and Rhode Island, to name three examples from the 2009-10 calendar.
"That lies on our teams to generate the revenue to be able to do that," he said.
The sharpening of the pencil was a collaborative effort between Dickie, assistant athletic director John Richard, and financial officer Jillian Brewer. The budget goes to the faculty of kinesiology for approval and then to the vice-president academic for approval.
The university budget will be presented to the university's board of governors in April. University president Eddy Campbell said last week that campus expenses must be slashed to deal with a $4.6-million shortfall in the university's annual operating budget.
Within the athletic department "it's manageable right now," said Dickie. "This is our situation. I think it's fair."
The V-Reds budget, is supplemented, of course, by revenues from gate receipts, sponsorships, profits from various sports programs and camps.
1 comment:
and what about a women's varsity hockey team?
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