Purdue has released a progress update for its Plan 2020 initiative -- which aims to consistently have teams ranked in the top 25 -- and the report "didn't shy away from what it called 'the elephant in the room' -- the lack of football success and the effect that has on" Purdue athletics' financial bottom line," according to Nathan Baird of the Lafayette JOURNAL & COURIER. Purdue athletics projects net operating revenues of $4.3M in '15-16, or $800,000 more than expected. The department used $6M of its reserves for the past fiscal year, which was $2.6M less than budgeted. That helped account for debt service payments and $2.8M in safety-necessitated concrete work on Ross-Ade Stadium, Mackey Arena and the new softball stadium. As a result, Purdue expects year-end reserve levels of $17M for athletics projects. Projected reserve levels "should fall" between $32-50M. Other notable items in the report included a change to a "nine-game Big Ten schedule for football," which will mean a reduction of $1.2M in income over the decade. However, Purdue expects Big Ten TV revenue to "increase significantly" and also projects a 10-year increase of $1.7M in premium seating revenue (Lafayette JOURNAL & COURIER, 8/4).
