BOISE — "I'm passed the decision and now I'm thinking about what we can do tomorrow, but that doesn't erase how bad I feel for the kids that worked so hard to get to this point,” said Boise State Athletic Director, Curt Apsey.
Revenue from football generates 40 to 50 percent of the athletic department's budget.
Right now as it stands the season is postponed, but if it's canceled entirely that will mean nearly a $20 million loss for the university.
“Cancelled is not the right word right now, it’s indefinitely postponed, our conference is working on everything that we can to see if spring is a viable option,” Apsey said.
Although saving money is important, he said that his department has to be proactive in generating revenue elsewhere.
“The success that we are having costs a lot of money, and we are going to reach out to Bronco Nation, our season ticket holders and our corporate partners," Apsey said. "We have got to make sure at the end of the day whatever that deficit is going to be we have to make it as small as we can going into the next academic year.”
Fall enrollment and whether they play a spring season are the two main factors in determining the deficit lost this fall.
“You have to plan for the worst, from a financial perspective, and that’s what we’ll continue to do. I do see us running some kind of deficit and using a payment plan whether that’s a loan or whatever that may be,” Apsey said.
If there is a spring season, it also depends on what they're allowed to do on game days.
As they had it before, the stadium would be at 25 to 30 percent capacity.
"That would be a 9 to 10 million dollar loss instead of 20 million,” he said. "But if we were to play a game in Idaho tomorrow, zero fans would be allowed, so it just depends."
After cutting baseball and the swimming and diving team to save money, their hope is to not have to cut any other programs.
“Personally I do not want to go through that again that was really hard, but I got to say we have that everything is on the table, we have to look at every way we can save money,” Apsey said.
Right now the department's focus is figuring out a spring season, until or if they are told otherwise.
“Maybe there will be a spring season, and we can garner some of that revenue back especially on the TV side and the CFP side,” he said. "That's the goal."
He is also working closely with the Florida State Athletic Directors to get their matchup rescheduled.
“That one hurts, that was done seven years ago, and our fans have been looking forward to that all this time, but the goal is to try and get it back,” Apsey said.
