The University of Hawaii athletic department incurred a $2.1 million deficit for the fiscal year that ended June 30.

The figure was part of a report delivered to the UH Board of Regents’ Committee on Independent Audit at a meeting Thursday at Bachman Hall on the Manoa campus. The committee unanimously approved the report from the accounting firm Accuity, which audited the athletic department’s budget. The committee accepted the findings without discussion.

The report showed the athletic department had expenses of $59,858,160 and revenue of $57,738,306 for a deficit of $2,119,854 for the fiscal year from July 1, 2023 to June 30, 2024.

Women’s volleyball finished with a surplus of $331,501. Men’s volleyball is believed to also have finished in the black, but its budget was lumped into “other sports,” which incurred an aggregate deficit of $5.6 million.

The report showed the football program earned more than $13 million in revenue with expenses of nearly $14 million for a net deficit of $636,601. The report followed the NCAA’s mandated calculations, which do not allow the football program to include as revenue its share from broadcast, television, radio and internet rights, nor distributions from the Mountain West, of which UH is currently a football-only member. Fifteen of UH’s non-football sports join the MW in 2026.

For fiscal year 2024, UH earned $3,604,141 from broadcast, TV, radio and internet rights — a total that was placed in the “non-program specific” category. UH does not assign breakdowns on the shares each sport generated from those revenue sources, such as the $3.1 million the school receives annually in rights fees from Spectrum, which offers pay-per-view telecasts of UH football games. According to the contract, Spectrum is assured seven pay-per-view games each year. For every game short of that minimum, UH must rebate $400,000. If that rebate amount was used as a measurement of the football program’s estimated value from TV rights, the Rainbow Warriors could be credited with enough revenue to have turned a profit in fiscal year 2024.

Salaries for coaches and staff paid by the department totaled a little more than $24 million, collectively the largest expense.

The university is expected to cover the deficit.

“There have been no changes in policy or practice regarding how UH Manoa addresses the operating deficits that any campus unit may face in a particular year, including athletics,” UH president David Lassner wrote in a statement to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. “So the campus will ensure that all payroll and financial obligations are met.”

Accruing a deficit is common in NCAA athletics. According to published reports, UH was last profitable in fiscal year 2011, when it turned a $486,461 surplus. UH broke relatively even in the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2023.

But Lassner echoed the auditor’s view that some expenses, not related to operations, will impact future bottom lines. For instance, UH will have to pay the state-mandated hazard pay for each employee who worked regularly on campus during the pandemic.

“As noted by Accuity, audited financial statements do not necessarily match operating revenues and expenses within any given year,” Lassner wrote. “Also as noted by Accuity, the impact of the Temporary Hazard Pay agreements could not have been anticipated. These impact all university operating units that are fully or significantly supported by revenue-generating Special Funds in a highly disparate manner than most of the campus or the state.”

David Matlin was athletic director for eight years through mid-May 2023. On May 17, 2023, Craig Angelos was hired on an at-will agreement, meaning he was without a contract or buyout while reporting to Lassner. Lassner is retiring at the end of this month. Angelos, who signed off on the fiscal year budget ending this past June 30, was not renewed last month. His last day as AD was this past Sunday. He is receiving three months’ severance of $87,000 based on annual pay of $348,000. UH also is expected to help pay moving expenses if he relocates to the continent.