Colorado AD Rick George on Thursday said that the school "is 'in the process of completing' details of a major contribution to the Buffs' athletic facilities expansion project that will nudge the total contributions past the one-third threshold" for the $143M estimated cost, according to Terry Frei of the DENVER POST. The school's Board of Regents in December had stipulated that one-third of the cost "would have to be raised through private funding before groundbreaking for the facilities in and around Folsom Field, including an indoor practice field, but eventually allowed the project to begin in May as fundraising continued." George: "We'll exceed that number, which was ($47 million) and change, once that gift's papered and done in the next two weeks." George "wouldn't disclose the identity of the donor" (DENVER POST, 7/11). In Boulder, Kyle Ringo reports CU "will sell bonds later this year to raise the remainder of the money to pay for the project at Folsom Field, and the athletic department will pay off those bonds over time." George said that raising more money "means selling fewer bonds and paying less debt in the future." Prior to George's fundraising drive since taking over almost a year ago, CU athletics "had never raised" more than $15M in any single year and "had never received an individual gift" larger than $5M. But there was "more good news for an athletic department that has been financially strapped in recent years." George said that he inherited a $5.6M budget shortfall for FY '13-14 when he was hired and "managed to trim that" to $4M when the FY ended last week. He added that his department also "submitted a balanced budget" for FY '14-15 (Boulder DAILY CAMERA, 7/11).
