“We desire more open and transparent decision making processes.” That is a Western Washington University budget goal. On that measure alone, the decision to ax the century-old football program failed miserably.
It was the very antithesis of the goal. Reasons cited for the action don’t hold up to the scrutiny that should have preceded it. Like many other non-academic activities, football has been a valuable component of the broad university experience. The program, its participants and supporters, deserve greater consideration than what has been given.
The decision is supposedly a fiscal necessity; yet no consistent accounting of the cost implications have been given, before or after. The dollar impact is a moving target but seems to be about $500,000 per year to keep football and make no changes to other sports. The urgency cited by the administration is increasing travel costs and lack of private financial support, but these misrepresent the situation.
A change in leagues after 2007 eliminated many costly flights to the Midwest for 2008. WWU was paid to play in two of its away games and bused to most others. The tentative schedule in 2009 had one game requiring air travel. And with costs increasing, why does athletics have both a full-time travel coordinator and a travel agency contract? Why do the golf teams and others play in tournaments in exotic locations like Hawaii and the basketball teams host a tournament in Las Vegas? This incongruity belies the claim that football travel is the problem and all fiscal options were considered.
Those of us who have been engaged for years trying to help raise private money for football are particularly affronted by the “no private support” claim. We fought bureaucratic obstacles for years, yet finally established a successful booster program. We asked for needs and a goal in June. We exceeded the goal, had members contributing monthly and had a surplus. We are left to wonder: If the problem was so big, why didn’t anyone tell us?
Our efforts were constrained but we were not being given the whole story. As has been demonstrated in the past week with the savewwufootball.com effort, which has received hundreds of thousands of dollars in commitments, giving people the truth opens wallets. Instead, we were told that needs were miscellaneous costs so that was what we had to energize people. The tough message was needed months ago. The fault lies solely within the WWU administration for not forthrightly communicating the fiscal condition. Why, when they were literally sitting next to us at an October game, did they never say, “Hey this program is bleeding money”? The communication of need and cooperation with private fundraising efforts is what’s been insufficient at WWU.
So what of the alternatives? Here are some simple things that would have the same fiscal impact as the decision to eliminate the program or make a major dent in it:
A 10 percent increase in student fees ($20 per quarter) would more than do it. Eliminate staff positions that WWU’s peers do not have and cut extravagant travel to Hawaii and other expensive destinations. Do like all of WWU’s peers and actually sell sponsorships and advertising and market ticket sales. Take down artificial barriers and let supporters raise funds targeted at the program. Consider combinations of all the above.
Due to the cloak of secrecy the decision was veiled in, we don’t know how closely these options were considered. The secrecy raises suspicion that these ideas may not have been given as much thought as warranted.
Football at WWU has never been a big-time sport like the Division I programs, yet it has played a significant role in the life of the WWU community and as an outreach tool. It has been a significant asset in increasing cultural diversity. WWU will be a lesser place with its demise.
Given the abysmal failure to meet its own goals of transparency, the administration owes the stakeholders a fresh review. Despite some players moving on, it is not too late to undo a decision that is so wrong. The courageous act would be to allow a re-examination.
Mark Wolken is a founding member of the WWU football booster group Valhalla. He earned his BA and MA there and is a past president of the Western Alumni Association. He owns an Everett consulting firm.
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