Why can we not just borrow more money from the University?

Jonnyeagle · February 20

Arizona did it according to this ESPN article. This could help us pay for the athletic center and new basketball arena. It could also help with NIL once the NCAA moves it back into the athletic department.

Quote

Part of the attraction to the job to Reed-Francois, per sources, was the opportunity to build Arizona back to stronger financial ground. The school suddenly fired athletic director Dave Heeke late last month, nearly a week after he had hired new football coach Brent Brennan.

This hire comes at a time of fiscal uncertainty for both Arizona and Arizona athletics, as the school is facing a reported deficit of $177 million. The athletics department is also struggling financially, as Robbins has said it has borrowed more than $80 million from the university in recent years.

LINK: https://www.espn.com/college-sports/story/_/id/39557409/arizona-hire-ad-desiree-reed-francois-amid-budget-woes

greenminer · February 20

I hate debt, but if you want to have this discussion, then let’s ask the obvious: what is in place in the future that guarantees we would be able to pay it back?

bstnsportsfan3 · February 20

Arizona is going through financial hell right now. That’s not a place we want to put our athletic department in

Jonnyeagle · February 20

1 hour ago, greenminer said:

I hate debt, but if you want to have this discussion, then let’s ask the obvious: what is in place in the future that guarantees we would be able to pay it back?

Well we do have student fees and other sources of revenue that are fairly solid and should go on for some time. It just seems like if other schools are utilizing the general fund we should be able to do that as well. I am and never said that I want us to go into debt but you typically don't pay cash for 40-50 million dollar projects.

UNTLifer · February 21

The University of Arizona is $177 million in debt and the athletic department borrowed $80 million? Sounds like a recipe for disaster.

El Paso Eagle · February 21

15 hours ago, UNTLifer said:

The University of Arizona is $177 million in debt and the athletic department borrowed $80 million? Sounds like a recipe for disaster.

I have a feeling there are a lot of other P5 programs that use very creative bookkeeping to avoid showing how bad things are financially. If I recall, during the beginning of COVID-19, several programs had to take out loans immediately to continue operations. The bottom line is that many schools are going broke trying to "keep up" with the top schools and have created a Ponzi scheme system to keep up appearances.