Georgia Tech's savings have been offset by lower-than-expected revenues in ticket sales for footballbobby dodd stadium
Georgia Tech is planning to make updates to Boddy Dodd Stadium this year, part of the athletic department's $83.3M in "projected expenses in the budget" for FY '20, according to Ken Sugiura of the ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION. Georgia Tech Associate AD/Administration & Finance Marvin Lewis said that the department is "expected to run a deficit" of $600,000 for FY '20. Sugiura notes that is an improvement on the original projection of a $1.7M deficit because of "debt-service savings" of $2.5M from a bond refinancing in August. At the time, it was "expected that those savings would enable the department to have a balanced budget for the year." However, the savings have been offset by "lower-than-expected revenues in ticket sales for football and men's basketball, leading to the revised deficit of $600,000." Average home football attendance in coach Geoff Collins' first season was 44,599, compared with 43,087 in '18 under Paul Johnson. The average men's basketball attendance through eight home dates is 5,663 with eight games remaining, currently down from an average of 5,945 last season. Meanwhile, Lewis said that the ACC has "not provided guidance" regarding distributions from the launch of the ACC Network in August. ACC revenues for FY '20 are projected to be $31M, compared with $27.9M in FY '19 (ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION, 1/17).
