Budget depends
on ticket salesUH must make more money
from football tickets to reach
Frazier's $20 million goal
Hawaii athletic director Herman Frazier still hopes to meet his goal of increasing his department's budget to $20 million by next year. In order to do so, though, football ticket sales must increase, he said.
"We said within three years we thought we could be there," said Frazier, who succeeded Hugh Yoshida in August 2002. "Obviously, we need to have success with the upcoming football season. Nonconference home games like Northwestern and Michigan State should help. And it should be remembered that in 2004 we have one more home game than in 2003."
UH's athletic-department expenditures last year totaled more than $18 million, and the department reported a $480,000 deficit, even with a $1 million loan from the university factored in.
The football season-ticket base is more than 24,000. Season-ticket renewals, under way now, have been "brisk," Frazier said.
He said he isn't worried that a Western Athletic Conference home schedule that does not include Boise State and Fresno State might hurt sales.
Also, season-ticket holders have become accustomed to gradual increases due to premium seat donation charges, Frazier said. Premium charges this year range from $30 to $125 per seat.
"We're always going to get some (complaint) calls, that's anticipated," he said. "It's about 1 percent, or less."
The athletic director plans to meet with KFVE and Oceanic Cablevision next week to discuss plans for a third year of pay-per-view telecasts of football games. UH has made more than $1 million the past two years from pay-per-view.
"It did fairly well again. This past year we saw tremendous growth in it. I would say probably close to 99 percent renewal and some new accounts as well," Frazier said. "Our problem now is we have to match up pay-per-view with what games we think might be on (national) TV. But since we have no TV partner yet with the conference we can't do that."
Frazier said a new deal for the WAC with ESPN "is still in negotiations." The prior three-year contract that made about $50,000 per year for each conference school lapsed at the end of basketball season.
"I cannot respond on anything having to do with money there because it's not done yet," he said.
In other news related to the UH athletic department:
>> UH is close to completing a contract with the NFL to assist the league in staging the annual Pro Bowl. Frazier met by teleconference with league officials last week, and said the deal could be lucrative for the school.
"There is great potential there," he said.
The Hawaii Tourism Authority is expected to finalize a new five-year deal to host the Pro Bowl by the end of next month.
>> More than 50 applications have been received for the women's basketball head coaching position vacated by the retirement of Vince Goo.
"I suspect I'll get the names of the people very soon," Frazier said.
>> The WAC athletic directors hold their annual meetings in Scottsdale, Ariz., in two weeks.
Frazier expects "heavy discussion" about the possibility of Texas-El Paso leaving the conference for Conference USA and who the WAC might bring into the fold.
Also, the UH athletic director is skeptical about a faculty vote at San Jose State indicating a desire to drop Division I football, which would mean an exit from the WAC for the Spartans.
"My understanding is only 50 percent of the faculty senate was involved in that voting process," Frazier said. "And it may have been a voice vote, taken just prior to the new president taking office there. There are just a few people there who don't want Division I football."
>> The Sheraton Hawaii Bowl was expected to receive certification from the NCAA today after bowl officials, including executive director Jim Donovan, made their presentation yesterday in New Orleans.
"The interview went fine," Donovan said. "We left with a very positive impression."
Ticket sales were down from 35,513 for the 2002 Hawaii Bowl to 29,005 for last year's game, but a profit was still cleared, Donovan said.
"ESPN (Regional Television, the owner of the game) made some money on this year's game," Donovan said. "Not a lot, and significantly less than last year."
The payouts to the participating conferences were also less than in 2002, but UH did not lose money by playing in the game, Frazier said.
