The University of Louisville reports that it operated at a $4.3 million surplus for the 2019-20 season. It is rolling that surplus into the current fiscal year — where it is already experiencing major revenue shortfalls because of COVID-19. More in the thread below.

Through September, Louisville athletics revenue is down $28.1 million from this time a year ago. It has cut expenses by $4.6 million. (These are year-over-year numbers).

To this point, Louisville athletics department has spent $291,039 on COVID-19 expenses. Expects to spend more than $1 million over the course of the fiscal year. It has received CARES reimbursement of $74,191 to this point, doesn’t know how much it will get overall.

U of L athletics is expecting a $37 million revenue shortfall for the 2020-21 season (assuming no fans will be allowed at basketball games), with ticket sale losses of $20.6 million, seat donation losses of $12.65 million and suite rental losses of $6.3 million.

U of L athletics has strategies to cut expenses by $18.5 million, including $10.4 million in operating reductions, $4.2 million in financial aid reallocations (mostly summer school) and $4 million in salary and benefit reductions.

The total projected deficit, then, is $18.5M.

All of these projections and plans are very fluid, and change almost weekly, if not daily. This is a snapshot that will change based on COVID circumstances.

Before COVID, Louisville’s athletic budget began at $109.1 million. It was revised down to $95.1 million to react to COVID. The latest round of mitigation now takes it down to $76.6 million.