TCU lost one-third of its athletic revenue amid pandemic. Will it return in 2021?
Colleges across the country cut athletic programs and endured layoffs amid the coronavirus pandemic. Revenues those schools rely on dried up with seasons being canceled or attendance being limited.
TCU’s athletic department has managed to avoid layoffs and cutting sports, something that AD Jeremiah Donati praised as one of the biggest accomplishments during the pandemic.
“The fact that we were able to keep everyone’s jobs is almost unheard of,” Donati said. “Chancellor [Victor] Boschini has led the charge to do that and we are extremely grateful to be able to build off of this year and continue our momentum with our department intact. This place is about people. We’ve got outstanding people here and we wanted to protect their jobs.”
That wasn’t easy to do.
A source indicates that TCU lost close to one third of its athletic department revenue during the pandemic, which is roughly $25 million. The majority of that lost revenue is due to “live gate” being drastically reduced.
That’s the money generated by hosting football and basketball games, including ticket sales, parking, donations and concessions. TCU, like every other college in the state, limited its capacity to 25% for the football and basketball seasons.
Donati is hopeful capacity increases for the 2021 football season.
“I don’t know what ‘21 looks like,” Donati said. “We think the vaccine will have an impact. We think that will give some people comfort in going to larger events such as football games, but we don’t know. Having a reduced capacity again would have significant financial implications for us.
“We’re very anxious to get back to full capacity. The live gate is a huge source of revenue for this department and university. Having to go through that again could have a massive impact on our sports programs here.”
For now, though, Donati is pleased with how the university and Big 12 managed to get through the football season and the first part of basketball season. There have been disruptions, but the majority of games are being played as scheduled.
TCU played 10 regular-season football games and was in line to face Arkansas in the Texas Bowl on New Year’s Eve. But the Frogs had to pull out of the bowl game by not meeting certain roster thresholds.
“It was a perfect storm of COVID impacts, injuries and opt outs whether it be for the NFL or personal reasons,” Donati said. “Naturally those things come with every bowl game. You always play a little short-handed because of injuries or academic issues or people who opt for the NFL. We just got to the point where we couldn’t put a team out without putting student-athletes at risk. We were all disappointed. We all wanted to play the game.”
Getting through a 10-game regular-season was an accomplishment in itself. That, more than anything, gives Donati confidence going forward.
“No one would have predicted that we could play all 10 football games, myself included, and the fact we did is a massive accomplishment and speaks to our overall commitment to providing a safe experience for them,” he said. “We have proven that we can play sports safely and we are confident that we will be ready for whatever comes in 2021.”
