THE SIDELINES : In Debt, Oregon May Quit Pac-10

The University of Oregon will be forced to decide whether to leave the Pacific 10 Conference unless the state helps cover its athletic department deficit, the school’s president says.

University President Myles Brand said Thursday it would be better for Oregon to drop intercollegiate athletics than join a less prestigious conference.

He said Oregon’s membership in the Pac-10 is “the most important affiliation we have as an academic institution.”

Brand’s comments were among the first intended to persuade the state Board of Higher Education to seek state funds to help eliminate a combined deficit of $6 million in the athletic department budgets at Oregon, Oregon State University and Portland State University. The board is expected to take up the issue when it meets next week.

The Oregon athletic department projects an accumulated deficit of $1.8 million at the end of this month, school officials said.