A Grip on Sports: If the numbers keep rising, the term may soon be ‘awash in Crimson ink’ instead of the current one

A GRIP ON SPORTS • It’s July. The month of hot dogs, apple pie and Chevrolet, as the Mad Men taught us to believe back in the day. But it’s not going to be a typical July. No way. And, around here, it is not starting well. Unless you appreciate red ink.

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• Sorry if that advertising jingle is now stuck in your head. I read somewhere once if you pass it along, it will fade from your mind, so here’s hoping it works. Nothing worse than a sunny-day tune playing in your head when it is raining like a son of a gun.

What the hay? The high is supposed to be 64 in Spokane today? July 1 is supposed to be 80 or something. Warm enough to jump into a river or lake or the plastic pool down the block, not feature a high temp about the same as old man Grippi’s age, that’s for sure.

But that’s not the worse of it, at least not in Pullman. Over the years the Washington State Cougars have been running up a deficit in their athletic department. Like the blob of 1950s-movie fame, it’s been growing slowly, inexorably, threatening to take over the entire campus.

For a while there, when it hit north of $50 million, it looked as if the department was getting it under control. Cost-cutting measures trimmed as much fat as possible from the bone, plans were instituted, revised and revised again. The deficit spending was going to stop and the huge bill Bohler Gym owed French Ad would be whittled down. Someday.

But no one except a few epidemiologists saw COVID-19, or its ilk, coming. And no one at all anticipated what a viral pandemic and its fallout would do to a college athletic budget. Wow. The blob of red ink just grew to the size of Martin Stadium.

Yesterday, athletic director Pat Chun told the Board of Regents the credit card balance would more than likely reach more than $100 million before it began to fall. Think about that number for a moment. I know. It’s a bit too big to handle. Heck, service on the interest is probably more than you and I make in a year ­–  combined.

The silver lining is … well, there isn’t one.

One would think a deficit of almost $100 million at the end of the next fiscal year would take into account all the losses forced upon the department by the pandemic, but, sadly, it really doesn’t.

Chun told the Regents, according to Theo Lawson’s story this morning:

“This is an optimistic budget, I’ll be pretty clear about that. And then a lot of it, we’ll see where we land hopefully at the end of July or early August when we as a campus can make a decision on what attendance can look like at Martin Stadium and our other venues for that matter.”

According to Theo’s story, “Chun said his department has modeled out a negative 15% economic impact factor for the upcoming school year, which would translate to about $6.9 million in lost potential revenue.”

I don’t know about you, but factoring in a 15% virus-impact factor seems more than optimistic. It seems downright rosy.

It’s not as if the Cougars live high on the hog. The athletic department, which features one sport more than the NCAA minimum, is bigger, certainly, than it was at the turn of the century, but that’s not the root of the deficit. College athletics’ arms race, and the attendant costs, is. Washington State needs to compete well in the Pac-12 to keep donations rolling in and competing well takes money. It’s not exactly chicken/egg territory, but it’s close. For years, under the approving eye of former school president Elson Floyd, then athletic director Bill Moos mortgaged the future to build facilities, hire coaches, burnish the image, all with a goal of keeping the Cougars competitive. For the most part it worked. But the bill is due. Well, not due exactly. The school’s administration has continually covered the losses with what is always termed a loan.

Honestly, though, if the number tops $100 million (and it will), how is the athletic department going to pay that off, short of sticking up about 10,000 Wheatland branches from here to Royal City? That’s not possible and neither will a payback unless some accommodation is made. If the Cougars turn things around, start making a profit each year of, say, $2 million, and give said profit directly to the administration (instead of investing it in improving the athletic product), the debt would disappear about when Gardner Minshew VI enrolls as a grad transfer.

Either some rich alum is going to leave his entire wine-making or electronics fortune to cover it or the school is going to forgive the debt. It’s that simple. So why worry about it now? Like banks and automakers, Cougar athletics, and the debt it carries, is too big to fail.

After all, it’s just a number on a ledger. Heck, why not double the debt and see if it’s actually possible to win a Rose Bowl with the aforementioned Minshew under center? A $200 million bill to win the school’s second Granddaddy – and first in more than a century? It’s a trade most Coug fans would make in a heartbeat. After all, it is not their money.

Nor, it seems, is it the athletic department’s.

• Let’s end this first day of July on a positive note. When I was a youngster (with a big lollipop, a beanie hat and an impressive cowlick) I read a book. Well more than one, actually. The one I’m thinking about, however, featured a family in which the father felt one Christmas wasn’t enough. Nope. The family celebrated a second Christmas on July 1 or somewhere about there. They decorated a tree (outside) and everything. Gave presents. Had a big meal. Did family Christmas-like things.

I tried to convince my dad this was the right thing to do. Appealed to his Christmas spirit. Got Scrooged instead.

I swore then I would institute this policy with my family if I ever had one. For a while there I would lie in my room, stare at the ceiling and image the love and adulation I would receive from my children as they celebrated Christmas again in the middle of summer.

Never happened. The love and adulation, sure. Kim forced them to have that. But the mid-summer Christmas thing? It never caught on.

Maybe it should this year.

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Gonzaga: The Zags’ top WCC rival is Saint Mary’s. But BYU, under new coach Mark Pope, is making a run at recruiting its way into that spot. The Cougars have attracted new talent this offseason in just about every way imaginable.

WSU: As we mentioned above, Theo has an in-depth story on the Cougars’ budget issues. OK, issues might be too kind a word. … Around the Pac-12, the next Oregon State football position to explore is safety. … Utah has to replace one of its best running backs ever. … Colorado has new assistant coaches all over, including football and basketball. … A running back decided to leave Arizona State. … Arizona will still hold on-campus workouts for athletes already there. The Wildcats’ pause is in allowing more athletes to return to school. … In basketball news, Utah has done OK since joining the Pac-12. … The school doesn’t think it will have a problem with its Under Armour contract.

Indians: We might have spent our morning lamenting the cancellation of the minor league baseball season, including the Indians’ slate, if hadn’t been so expected. The day Major League Baseball pulled the plug on spring training, minor leagues’ seasons were doomed. Yesterday was just the obituary. Dave Nichols writes that in today’s paper.

Seahawks: In this day and age of uncertainty, the energy and positivity that flows off Pete Carroll is more important than ever. At least that’s how Larry Stone sees it. … Bobby Wagner’s leadership will also be key of the defense is to bounce back from last season’s debacle.

Mariners: If you want to know which of your favorite players comes down with the virus, you won’t be able to. Unless they tell everyone how bad it feels.

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• If you are wondering if WSU could drop a sport to save money, it’s highly unlikely. The Cougars have the NCAA Division I minimum six male sports and one more than the minimum eight female sports. But eliminating any of the women’s sports would bring insurmountable Title IX problems, so that’s not an option. As we said above, it’s not as if the athletic department lives royally. It’s just tough to make ends meet. Until later …