The Univ. of Washington athletic department “expects a lost” of $5.8M in financial year 2023, according to Mike Vorel of the SEATTLE TIMES. Even though UW’s “93% season ticket retention rate is a historic high” and the Huskies are CFP contenders this fall, UW “projects that deficit to expand to” $7.8M in the coming financial year. Those deficits “stem somewhat from continued severance payments” following the firing of former UW coach Jimmy Lake, totaling $5M in FY23 and a projected $3.8M more in FY24. Coach Kalen DeBoer received a $1M raise and a two-year extension in November, while UW’s football assistant salary pool “grew” from $5.745M to “roughly” $7.483M this offseason. UW’s losses in both FY23 and FY24 “will be covered with the department’s dwindling reserves,” which are estimated to total $9.1M next July. Season ticket sales, for starters, “have yet to reach pre-pandemic levels.” However, sales “were 10.3% lower than budgeted.” Specifically, UW “sold 45,038 season tickets,” with $17.1M “in seat-related contributions,” in 2021. Those numbers “dipped to 40,150” and $15.8M last season. The Huskies “project 42,415 season ticket sales” and $16.8M “in seat-related donations this fall” (SEATTLE TIMES, 6/9).
Univ. of Washington athletics’ financial situation remains rocky
