Mitch Barnhart announces $35 million revenue hit for UK Athletics in 2020-21

The University of Kentucky Athletics Department is anticipating a $35 million decline in net revenues for 2020-21 due to COVID-19.

In a budget update announced this afternoon, Athletics Director Mitch Barnhart said the coronavirus has created a “historic budget challenge” for the school as we move into 2021.

“The effects of the coronavirus pandemic have presented a historic budget challenge,” Barnhart told members of the University Athletics Committee of the UK Board of Trustees Monday afternoon. “But challenges are what we teach and coach our student athletes to successfully work through — as individuals and as teams. That’s what we are doing with this challenge that confronts our department in the face of a global pandemic.”

The forecasted reduction of $35 million is due primarily to the loss of ticket sales in football and basketball, along with ticket-related contributions to the K Fund. While fans are allowed at Kentucky football and basketball games, capacity is limited to 20% and 15% at Kroger Field and Rupp Arena this season, respectively.

Barnhart did acknowledge, however, that the loss of revenues will be offset by “increases in the Southeastern Conference revenue sharing, ongoing efforts to increase philanthropic support, a transfer of surplus funds from previous years and cutting expenses.”

According to UK, the athletics department compensation was cut 5% at the start of the fiscal year through a temporary reduction in retirement benefits, with Barnhart adding that layoffs and additional salary reductions are not being considered at this time. UK Athletics is not asking for any assistance from UK’s general fund operations.

“Our staff and team have worked around the clock for months to give our student athletes in all our sports an opportunity to compete and train this fall in as safe and healthy an environment as possible,” Barnhart said.

UK Athletics says it is one of a handful of departments across the country that receives zero dollars from student fees and institutional general funds, adding that it pays for the scholarships it provides, its facilities, utilities and maintenance as well as other expenses.

The department has already cut nearly $10 million in expenses in areas such as recruiting and travel, helping offset necessary investments in COVID-19 testing and support for student athletes.

“UK Athletics, for so many people, represents the front porch for the University of Kentucky,” said UK President Eli Capilouto. “Mitch and his team understand their vital role in that regard as well as how important it is for our Athletics Department to lead by example in the academic success and welfare of its student athletes as well as their ongoing contribution to the success of the university.

“This budget plan — constructed in the midst of some of the most challenging times we have ever faced as an institution — underscores that commitment and that partnership.”

Capilouto added that Barnhart has been “balancing the department’s budget and contributing to the success of the entire university” during his time at Kentucky.

“While this year will be the toughest budget year in generations for athletics, I am confident that Mitch and his team are putting together — and executing on — a plan that will give athletics, and our student athletes, the best chance for success,” Capilouto said. “As always, they are putting our students and our university first.”