February 3-4, 1983
02-03-1983
Pages 27-30
BOARD OF REGENTS
UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA SYSTEM
February 3, 1983
The Special meeting was held on the above date at the Carlson
Education building at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
Members present: Mr. John R. Mc Bride, Chairman
Mrs. Frankie Sue Del Papa
Mrs. Lilly Fong
Mrs. Dorothy S. Gallagher
Mr. Chris Karamanos
Mrs. Joan Kenney
Mr. Rollan Melton
Mrs. Jo Ann Sheerin
Mrs. June F. Whitley
Others present: Chancellor Robert M. Bersi
President Joseph Crowley, UNR
President Leonard Goodall, UNLV
Mr. Donald Klasic, General Counsel
Ms. Mary Lou Moser, Secretary
Also present was Mr. Gary Jones, Faculty Senate Chair, UNLV.
The meeting was called to order by Chairman Mc Bride at 2:30 P.M.
1. In accordance with NRS 241.030, Mrs. Gallagher moved that
the Board recess for the purpose of holding a closed person-
nel session to discuss the competency of University of
Nevada System personnel.
The Board reconvened at 4:45 P.M. with all members present.
2. President Goodall read the following statement:
As late as 48 hours ago, I thought I might have to come be-
fore this Board and recommend the discontinuation of foot-
ball at UNLV. As unpopular as that action would have been
I was prepared to bring you such recommendation if that
proved to be the only viable alternative. Happily, the
hard work of the Athletic Director, the cooperation and
understanding of the coaches, the efforts of the Chairman
of the Board of Regents, and the support of other members
of the Board made it possible to work out a reasonable
budget for next year that will include a much reduced, but
still a workable budget for football.
It has been my feeling throughout this process, that with
the opening of the new Thomas and Mack Center next year,
there were simply too many budget uncertainties facing us
for us to make such a final and definitive decision as the
dropping of football. It is worth at least another year of
review and observation.
I believe the budget is built on reasonable and realistic
revenue projections. We have projected increased ticket
revenues for basketball, but no profits or box rentals from
the Thomas and Mack Center are included in the budget. We
have also budgeted no television revenue, and no revenue
from post-season play in any sport. It is quite likely,
that some of these sources will produce revenues which can
be used to meet other revenue shortfalls, to establish a
contingency account or to retire the prior year's deficit.
It is a very tight budget, but one that the Athletic Depart-
ment can live with.
I intend to emphasize to every coach and every Athletic
Department staff member that in 1983-84 there will be no
higher priority in their job responsibilities, including
their win-loss record, than living within their budgets.
That is an absolutely essential element for maintaining
financial control of the program.
I also plan to ask the Controller's Office to establish the
most rigorous kind of month-by-month reporting and control
mechanisms so that we may have an early warning system in
case of any potential problems in the future. With such
a system we can make adjustments quickly if expenditures
and revenues begin to get out of line.
Not only the level of the budget, but the level of our
rhetoric is going to be reduced. In our football program
in particular, the excessive enthusiasm of some people both
inside and outside the University has caused us for years
to try to move too far, too fast. We had not yet won our
first game in the PCAA when there were those calling for
UNLV to transfer the PAC 10 into the PAC 11. There are
those who think that such talk is just good, healthy fan
enthusiasm. I do not agree. I think that such rhetoric
creates unrealistic and unreachable expectations. We have
no reason to apologize for the fact that we are not going
to have an Alabama, Oklahoma, Ohio State or UCLA type foot-
ball program in the immediate future. We do not have 40,000
students on this Campus to pay student fees, or 20,000,000
citizens to pay taxes. That does not mean that we may not
play such teams on occasions, but overall our budget will
not come close to equaling theirs. We want to be a good
competitor in the PCAA. We want to have as good a team as
an 11,000 student University and a sparsley populated state
can reasonably expect to have. We want our goals and ex-
pectations to be realistic.
I want to thank both the Athletic Long-Range Planning Com-
mission and UNLV Intercollegiate Athletics Council for their
comments and recommendations on the University athletic pro-
gram. Many of their ideas are incorporated in the steps
being taken to improve the program.
Finally, I want to thank this Board for the support, time
and effort it has devoted to UNLV athletics. You have con-
tributed far more than any lay board can reasonablly be ex-
pected to do. I wish that months or weeks ago I could have
brought you a simple Presidential recommendation which you
could have acted upon and that would have been the end of
it. But, alas, there were and are no simple answers. I
think we have turned a corner with UNLV athletics. But
there is no final solution that can be guaranteed permanent-
ly. Next year we will have the advantage of one full year
of information on the impact of the Thomas and Mack Center.
If hard decisions have to be made at that time, we should
not shrink from them or delay them further. I am convinced
that UNLV athletics will be better and stronger because of
the attention we have given the current crisis and because
of our response to it.
We are ready to move ahead.
3. President Goodall recommended the following budget:
UNLV Athletic Department Budget 1983-84
Prepared February 1, 1983
Income Projections
Contributions $ 600,000
Tickets 600,000
Conference Guarantee 100,000
Football Gate Receipt 400,000
New Basketball Income 1,088,000*
State Appropriations 600,000
Student Fee 500,000
Total $3,888,000
*Calculation of $8,000 per game time 17 games
at $8 each.
Expense Projections
Women's Sports $ 550,000
Men's Non-Revenue Sports 550,000
Athletic Administration 850,000
Men's Basketball 575,000
Fund Raising 100,000
Football 1,225,000
Total (Not in Balance) $3,850,000
Mrs. Whitley moved to approve the budget. Mrs. Fong second-
ed. Motion carried.
4. President Goodall recommended that the University of Nevada,
Las Vegas and the University System disassociate itself from
all prior organizations that have been involved in Univer-
sity fund raising for athletics at UNLV, including the Uni-
versity Rebels Club. He further stated that if the recom-
mendation was accepted, he would instruct the UNLV Athletic
Department to explore alternatives for fund raising struc-
tures to be used in the future.
Mrs. Gallagher moved to approve the recommendation. Mrs.
Sheerin seconded. Motion carried with Mr. Karamanos
voting no.
The meeting adjourned at 5:10 P.M.
Mary Lou Moser
Secretary
02-03-1983