Five years since joining the Pac-12, the Univ. of Utah's budget has grown from $29.7M in its last year in the Mountain West to $72.2M planned for next year, but rising costs and developments "make competing financially in the Pac-12 a perpetual uphill challenge for the school with the 11th-largest budget in the conference," according to Kyle Goon of the SALT LAKE TRIBUNE. While the school's financial growth "reflects the larger payout" for Tier 1 TV rights and Pac-12 distributions -- $29M in revenue for FY '17 -- donations have "doubled" to $10.8M and football and basketball ticket sales revenue is up to $13.1M. Utah football coach Kyle Whittingham and men's basketball coach Larry Krystkowiak will make an estimated $5.8M of the school's $14.6M in coaching salaries in '17. Utah AD Chris Hill: "Everybody will say that's hard to swallow as you look at some of the other jobs around the world, but it's the way it is. We have to do that to be competitive." Goon noted one thing the school has now that it did not have in the MWC is "significant debt." Utah has $5.5M budgeted next year to "help pay off debt" on three projects -- the recently built football practice facility, a basketball practice facility and a new scoreboard at Rice-Eccles Stadium. The $5.5M also will help pay down "money the department borrowed from the university at the outset of the Pac-12 era." Utah CFO Steve Smith said that in the school's time in the conference, the "slow growth" of Pac-12 Networks revenue has been "perhaps the biggest disappointment." However, Utah's high season-ticket renewal rate "has helped them stay consistent" (SALT LAKE TRIBUNE, 7/27).
