Athletics fee alternatives fall short

IU President Adam Herbert and a majority of the trustees support the $30 athletics fee despite widespread campus objections. \nThat scenario is unfolding this month as the University's administration goes against the Committee for Fee Review's recommendation to eliminate the athletics subsidy. \nIt has happened before.\nLast year a nine-member committee that included students proposed alternatives to the $30 fee such as changing the student-athlete advising structure and examining student ticket allocation and prices. \nAlthough those proposals were dismissed then, key portions of the "Zorn Committee Report" since have been enacted.\n"It's concerning that they've implemented the recommendations when we were told they weren't feasible," said former IU Student Body President Tyson Chastain, who sat on both the Zorn and CFR committees. "Why weren't they an alternative then?"\nThe Zorn Committee Report suggested last year the department make changes to ticket allocation and pricing to generate more revenue.\nSince then, the athletics department has allocated 200 more men's basketball tickets for students, raising total student seats from 7,800 to a record 8,000, said Bruce Jaffee, a business professor and chair of the faculty and alumni IU Athletics Committee. Seventy-two new court-side seats were added at Assembly Hall and brought in $400,000 in additional \nrevenue, said IU Media Relations Director Pete Rhoda. And starting next fall, student ticket prices for football will drop from $10 to $8. \nThe Zorn Committee Report did not recommend these exact plans, but it did explore the possibility that demand for tickets is highly elastic. \n"An excellent point of the Zorn Report is that we should look more thoughtfully at ticket pricing," Jaffee said. \nAn additional alternative to the student fee called for campus support for student-athlete advising. That plan was approved by the Bloomington Faculty Council earlier this year and should save athletics an estimated $250,000 a year. \n"Where is the review to look into whether these alternatives have worked and if we can now get rid of the athletics fee?" Chastain said.\nDespite the changes, Jaffee said a mandatory student fee is still necessary to support the department. The athletics debt for 2005 is projected to be at least $1 million more than last year, according to athletics reports. While average attendance for Big Ten home football games is 75,000, attendance at IU home games averaged only 30,000 last season, Jaffee said. Of the 24 sports offered at IU, only three -- football and men's and women's basketball -- generate revenue. \nJaffee said the fee helps reduce the deficit but does not come close to solving it. He said revenue raised from the fee, about $1.1 million, would account for only 2.5 percent of the total athletics budget. \n"In the absence of a fee, maintaining what we have is very questionable," Jaffee said. "It is viewed as part of an overall financial strategy." \nWithout a student fee, IU Athletics might have to raise ticket prices, reduce student seating, cut sports programs or seek more commercial deals, Jaffee said.\nOther plans to generate more revenue and cut costs are ongoing, but the deficit-reduction is tied closely to new football coach Terry Hoeppner. In recent weeks, he has made himself very visible, talking to students at a Union Board forum, visiting Jill's House and appearing at the Bloomington Convention Center at a conference on economic development.\nChastain said Hoeppner and new Athletics Director Rick Greenspan have done a tremendous job in handling the deficit they've inherited. Chastain plans to lobby trustees on behalf of students and the Committee for Fee Review. Trustees will officially vote on the $30 fee May 6. \n"We as students are the ones paying the fees," he said. "Students should be listened to." \n-- Contact General Assignments Editor Adam VanOsdol at avanosdo@indiana.edu.