SDSU Sports Show Profit; Deficit Cut 38%

The San Diego State University Athletic Department closed the books on its 1986-87 fiscal year budget Thursday, showing a $210,810 surplus that will reduce the department’s deficit by 38%, athletic department spokesman John Rosenthal said.

At a meeting of the Intercollegiate Athletic Authority, Athletic Director Fred Miller reported that the department had received almost $4.5 million in income against $4.29 million in expenses. It was the second straight year the department has finished its fiscal year in the black. Last year, the department made a modest dent in its $559,000 deficit with a surplus of $1,000.

The increased income during the past year was “due to the (SDSU football team’s) Holiday Bowl appearance, the monies received from the appearance of three Western Athletic Conference teams in the NCAA basketball tournament, the success of the WAC postseason basketball tournament and the success of the Aztec Athletic Foundation’s fund-raising efforts,” Rosenthal said.

But not all SDSU sports will share equally in the department’s fiscal success. Under the 1987-88 budget approved Thursday by the Intercollegiate Athletic Authority, most programs will receive funding increases ranging from 7% for softball to 21% for baseball. However, funding for the track program will be cut by 25%, while the golf team will receive 22% less than it did this past year.

Miller decided which sports were to be given more or less money based on “where the potential for success in the coming year was greater,” Rosenthal said. The biggest item in the budget--the football program--will receive a 7% increase, though athletic department officials expect the program to generate $500,000 more than it did last season, to account for more than half of the department’s anticipated income.