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Possible Loss of Funds
Iowa State University and the University of Northern Iowa will no longer get athletic funding from taxpayer money if an Iowa Board of Regents plan is approved this week. Board of Regents President David Miles told the Des Moines Register that the value of athletic programs to the universities may have changed.

"There is an educational value, and there is a value to the universities," Miles said. "But there is a real question as to whether that value is sufficient given the challenging financial times that we face to justify ongoing taxpayer support. I would prefer that we find other sources of revenue."

If the plan is not approved, Iowa State's $43.3 million athletics budget is expected to draw $3 million from taxpayers in 2010, a decrease of about $550,000 from last year. Meanwhile, it's estimated UNI's $11.5 million athletics budget could draw $4.6 million from taxpayers--a $793,000 decline from last year.

In March, Calli Theisen Sanders, EdD, Senior Associate Director of Athletics at Iowa State University, wrote an article for Athletic Management about making tough cuts. Read her take on how to decide what is essential, and what is not.

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Transportation Trouble
Schools in this Illinois district are looking for ways to cut down on team travel costs, and may ask parent volunteers to do some driving.

"We'll have a busload of kids going down to (Hardin) Calhoun for a basketball game on a snowy night," Phil Trapani, Principal at Carrollton High School, told the State Journal-Register. "Their parents get to the game later, and a lot of the kids go home with their parents.

"So when the bus gets back here, you might have the driver, the coach and a couple of players on it. That's something you have to look at and say, 'Are we wasting money here?'"

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NCAA Considers Cost Containment in DI
According to the NCAA News, The Division I Leadership Council wants more information before making formal recommendations on cost-savings initiatives and asked for data by their next meeting in October--including how much money specific actions could actually save a campus or the Association. The Council will consider rules changes that would save money on campuses (championships, travel, season modifications) and implementing cost-savings initiatives from a national office perspective, which could affect staffing and programs.

Also in Division I, the Division I Recruiting and Athletics Personnel Issues Cabinet is concerned about the increasing size of non-coaching personnel present for football and men's and women's basketball contests. It is in the process of polling athletics directors and coaches organizations for those sports to investigate possible legislation that would "address the proliferation of non-coaching personnel with sport-specific responsibilities."

According to the NCAA News, "the increasing size of non-coaching personnel dedicated to those high-profile sports has given rise to competitive-equity concerns and to complaints of there being 'more suits on the bench than uniforms.'"

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Good Neighbor
A neighboring charter school with a budget surplus is helping out this Rhode Island high school by donating enough money for several of its cut sports teams to come back next year. An $88,241 donation from the New England Laborers'/Cranston Public Schools Construction Career Academy, a public charter school, "will just about restore every program except freshman baseball, basketball and football," for Cranston High School athletics, Cranston Schools Superintendent Peter L. Nero, told the Providence Journal.

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Losing Millions
In a recent report, it was revealed that the University of Maine athletic department operated at a $7 million loss this fiscal year.

"We're evaluating our situation," Athletic Director Blake James told the Maine Campus, adding that this year $300,000 must be cut from next year's budget. Last year, Maine was forced to suspend the university's volleyball and men's soccer programs. "We're not considering cutting any other sports," James said. "Never say never, but I don't see us cutting more teams."

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On Their Own
After the decisive defeat of two high school athletic facility construction proposals, a community group in this New York district has formed to explore the possibility of raising enough private funds for a new facility. In Fayetteville-Manlius, the F-M Community Sports Facility Association Planning Board is exploring the feasibility of raising funds for a multi-sports stadium and is currently gauging the community's interest in such a project.

Rebecca Pulver, one of the organizers and a parent of four children at F-M told the Syracuse Post-Standard that the message is clear: Residents don't want to pay for this through their school taxes. "The community has spoken twice," she said. "So were not going down that route again. We know this can't be a school thing; this has to be a community thing."

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United In Fundraising
An entire community, including different athletic teams from the district high school and middle school are pitching in to come up with ways to raise funds for the high school girls' basketball coach, who is battling colon cancer.

"It's a pretty tight-knit (soccer) community," Tony Lynn, president of the Kickapoo High School girls' soccer booster club, told the Springfield News-Leader. "When they all want to get behind something."

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No More Athlete Freebies
The Big Ten Conference estimates it will save $300,000 by not awarding student-athletes any traditional gifts for making the postseason. Often, conferences offer gaming systems, portable DVD players, and camcorders as gifts to participants in postseason tournaments.

"The administrators voted to discontinue student-athlete gifts for all of our championships," Big Ten Assistant Commissioner Scott Chipman told Minnesota Daily, describing the decision as a "cost containment" measure.

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Students Shoulder Fees
At Florida International University, students pay about $350 a year in fees that go to athletics--the most out of all the Sun Belt Conference members.

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Perkins's Salary Debated
Not everyone was pleased to hear that University of Kansas Athletic Director Lew Perkins took home over $4 million in salary last year.

R.J. Anderson is the Online Editor at Athletic Management.