2008 Woodie Awards
"Financial woes, sports dilemmas and a new plan"
BSU athletic director addresses ASBSU
Sean Hayes (The Arbiter)
Issue date: 9/26/00 Section: NEWS
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Since 1968, some Bronco Athletic Association supporters pay hundreds of dollars for choice seats in the Pavilion,while others are paying only base season ticket cost to sit at the 50-yard line,according to BSU Athletics Director Gene Bleymaier, speaking before the ASBSU Senate,.
This is because before the BAA came into existence, there was no additional charge for choice stadium seating. Ticket-holders occupying those seats, before the BAA came into existence, were not charged under the organization's new guidelines. Charging extra for top-priority seats is a common practice for raising athletic dollars.
Bleymaier indicated that this would not affect students, but may impact about 900 veteran Bronco supporters who came in before new guideline regulations. Bleymaier said that instituting this program would not be easy, going so far as to call it, "a public relations nightmare."
He is especially sensitive to handling this new plan well, as Bleymaier got his job as Athletics Director after the last director was fired for trying to institute this same program.
"The timing for this is never good," Bleymaier said. "But the fact is that we're entering the (Western Athletic Conference) this year. It's a higher level of competition, and we need a higher level of support."
The plan so far is not official. And Bleymaier said he suspects it could draw some fire if the BAA decides to go through with it.
Another well-reported headache of the Athletics Department is last fiscal year's deficit, placing what ASBSU Senator Mike Klinkhamer called, "an egg of the face of BSU."
Bleymaier responded that first, due to application of monies left over from the department's contingency account, the Athletics Department is currently back in the black -- though it still reported a deficit for last fiscal year.
He also told student leaders , the local media latched on to the story before official final figures were released for last fiscal year's financial report. Those figures are not expected to become official until October.
Title IX regulations were a third facet of Bleymaier's report. Title IX is a federal regulation requiring gender equity in sports. In order to comply, the ratio of men's to women's sports must be equal to the ratio of male to female students attending the university. Currently, about 54% of BSU undergraduates are female. Therefore BSU has not complied with the gender equity portion of the regulation.
However, a university which shows a record of expanding and adding women's sports (or eliminating men's sports in order to comply) may still be considered in compliance with the mandate. Bleymaier said that the Athletics Department hopes to remain in compliance by adding a new women's sport every five years. The sport to be added this year is expected to be skiing.
Bleymaier said that the facility costs of adding a women's softball or swimming team would be too expensive for the University to handle.
"If and when we add another women's sport, it will not generate revenue, we know that," said Bleymaier.
Under scrutiny from female senators, he said that he did not mean the comment negatively. He added that only two male sports generate profit after cost. No women's sport generates profit.
Bleymaier said the theory behind BSU's addition of women's sports is to, "Add opportunities for women, not eliminate opportunities for men."
"We don't want to eliminate men's sports and say okay, we complied with Title IX,'" he added. "Some universities are doing that."
The main problem with adding these new sports is cost. The Idaho State Board of Education has set aside some money to grant to universities for gender equity, but currently BSU does not receive any of that money. The federal government does not provide any money to help universities remain in compliance. The federal government, Bleymaier said, mandates its regulations but does not fund them.
