Univ. of Arizona officials "outlined a new 'five-point plan' to reshape its budgeting, operations and revenue generation," aiming to "drastically reduce" the athletic department’s shortfall of $33.6M in FY 2023-24, according to Bruce Pascoe of the ARIZONA DAILY STAR. Interim UA CFO John Arnold and AD Desiree Reed-Francois announced a plan that “will trim $500,000 annually in ‘administrative leadership personnel costs’” while vowing to “streamline the organizational chart, tighten up budgeting processes and capitalize further on revenue opportunities.” Arnold said that UA will "pay back its loans to the university in accordance with future net revenue" instead of paying them back on a fixed schedule. Both Arnold and UA President Robert Robbins noted that the school will also “seek to ‘cost shift’ some items” that the athletic department had been paying to the university’s general budget. Arnold projected UA would bring in an extra $9.1M in revenue growth in part because of "increased development and parking revenue" while saying that the school is “forecasting” a $2.5M cut in operations. UA's athletic department also projects to save another $26.5M in 2024-25 by "eliminating" a $7.1M administrative service charge that the university was charging and by "'rebasing' its debt." The school’s athletic department "currently owes" $171M in loans for capital improvements to its facilities and also a total of $95.7M in operational loans given over the past three years. Reed-Francois announced plans to “seek more revenue from philanthropy, naming rights and ticketing” (ARIZONA DAILY STAR, 6/20).
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