— By Bill Cornwell
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — Athletics at Marshall University has a budget in place for the new fiscal year beginning July 1.
That budget, which totals $38,925,985, was approved earlier this week by the Athletics Committee of the Marshall University Board of Governors. The full Board of Governors also approved the budget.
Christian Spears, Director of Athletics at Marshall, and Debra Broughton, the department’s Chief Financial Officer, explained the mechanics of the budget plan to committee members.
Broughton said 54 percent of the athletics budget is provided by the university and the remaining 46 percent is produced by the athletic department. Broughton added Marshall is on its way to a 50-50 split on revenue sources.
Spears says more than one-third of his department’s budget covers coaching and staff salaries, while 24 percent takes care of athletic scholarships. Team and staff travel consume nearly 20 percent of the budget. The remainder of spending goes to supplies and other services.
Under new NCAA standards, all Marshall athletes will have their schooling paid by either scholarships or tuition waivers. There are 416 athletes across Marshall’s teams.
Spears gave an example to the Athletic Committee as to how football athletes will be supported under the expected new NCAA model. Marshall will have 105 players on its football roster — 85 scholarship players and 20 players receiving tuition waivers that are provided by the university.
Spears and Broughton also confirmed news of previously announced improvements, including the construction of a deck on the south side of the Shewey Athletic Center at Joan C. Edwards Stadium.
The deck, which will be a new premium seating area for fans, is expected to see construction start as soon as next week. The price tag for the work is $1.8 million.
When seeking new revenue streams, renting out athletic facilities for competitions and events is a growing opportunity.
An August 30 concert being held by country music artist Zach Bryan at Edwards Stadium will produce major revenue and could possibly lead to more such events.
“The biggest revenue increase for us that has filled in gaps has been the (Zach Bryan) concert,” Broughton said. “We’re projecting to net about a half million dollars from that.”
Spears said other projects taking place this year include creation of new suites at the Cam Henderson Center as well as installation of a new playing floor for Herd basketball programs.
Plans are also being made and financing secured for a Marshall golf practice facility at the Herd’s home course of Guyan Golf & Country Club.
Renting MU athletic facilities helps to produce dollars that can pay for maintenance and improvements.
“We want to do this more,” Spears said. “We’ve talked about initiatives to grow facility rentals and the only way we can do that is to improve the facility infrastructure.”