UT still owes Butch Jones an $8.26M buyout, due in monthly installments until the end of his contractgetty images
Univ. of Tennessee athletics operated at a $6.5M deficit during FY '18 that ended June 30 "due to the buyouts" that stemmed from the firings of football coach Butch Jones, his staff and AD John Currie, according to a front-page piece by Blake Toppmeyer of the Knoxville NEWS SENTINEL. UT operated at a $10.8M surplus in FY '17, when it had only $1M in severance expenses. The school reached a $2.2M settlement with Currie in March, and owed Jones a $8.26M buyout "due in monthly installments through the end of his contract, which expires Feb. 28, 2021." UT listed $13.8M in buyout expenses for FY '18, which includes $11.5M in football buyouts. UT Assistant AD/Communications Tom Satkowiak said that the operating loss was covered with "athletic department reserves," which now stand at about $9.5M, down from $17.9M. UT athletics in total had an operating revenue of $143.5M compared to $150M in expenses. UT football brought in $98.3M in revenue with $58.8M in expenses for an operating surplus of $39.5M. Football "saw a drop" of nearly $1M in ticket-sales revenue. Despite the dropoff, football ticket sales "remained a key revenue generator for the athletic department," bringing in $29.6M (Knoxville NEWS SENTINEL, 1/25).
LOOKING FOR ANSWERS: Toppmeyer in a separate piece notes UT this past season was "struggling to fill" Neyland Stadium, with attendance down 8% over '16. For actual attendance, UT totaled 545,343 fans in '18, which means "on average, 25,000 seats were empty" for each home game. UT is planning an eventual renovation of Neyland Stadium, but because the school "doesn't plan to decrease" capacity, UT AD Phillip Fulmer is "focused on the fan-friendly portion" of an approach taken by many NFL teams. Fulmer: "They have a place for millennials to come and plug in, stand up and visit, do their thing. They can watch (the game) on television, order food online. They may or may not ever go and actually watch the game" (Knoxville NEWS SENTINEL, 1/25).
