While the hunt is on for loose change in the cushions elsewhere in the financially strapped University of Hawaii athletic department, the dollars are coming in strong at the box office for men’s basketball.
With seven regular-season home games remaining on the schedule, the 14-5 (3-2 Big West Conference) Rainbow Warriors are on pace to produce their "best revenue mark in quite a while, barring hiccups," said Carl Clapp, associate athletic director.
Entering Thursday’s game against Long Beach State, ticket revenue is $784,949 and could reach nearly $1 million.
"It (sales) has been very positive and the success of the team obviously has a lot to do with that," athletic director Ben Jay said.
Revenue includes both season-ticket and individual-game sales and some advance sales, but not seat licensing fees, UH said. It also does not include the three-night Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic, which is owned and operated by ESPN Regional Television. ERT pays UH a fee and guarantees the ‘Bows at least two televised games per year in the tournament.
In July, the athletic department had set $963,000 as an admitted "high end" goal for ticket revenue as it attempted to climb out of red ink.
"One thing to remember is that we set some pretty audacious goals early for ourselves from a revenue perspective," Jay said. "We had to. And, that’s what we’ve been trying to hit. And, I think, if we are able to achieve that, then we’ve had a great year."
But increased basketball revenue at the 10,300-seat Stan Sheriff Center will not make up for the shortfall by football at 50,000-seat Aloha Stadium, which is a major contributor to the approximately $2 million deficit UH said it is currently facing. Jay said it hasn’t been decided yet if he will seek across-the-board cuts in the department as a means to bring the deficit under the mandated $1 million level.
The 1-11 football team produced $3,423,522 in ticket revenue, falling $906,478 short of its projection. Football turnstile attendance averaged 24,691 per game at Aloha Stadium in 2013, according to audit figures furnished to the NCAA.
Football averaged 1,364 more per game in attendance in 2013 over 2012, but some tickets were heavily discounted.
Meanwhile, Jay said UH does not plan to reprise its "go green, save green" four-for-two ticket promotion for basketball this year.
"The team is doing so well that we’re just promoting the fact that we have these remaining home games and come see this (good) team," Jay said. "I think we learned quite a few lessons from "go green, save green" last year and one of the things we have to think about when it comes to the ticket pricing situation is making sure our season-ticket holders are valued in the process."
