UA athletic budget increases 9 percent

FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas’ athletic department budget for the 2011-2012 fiscal year will rise nearly 9 percent as it adjusts for various increases, such as raises for coaches Bobby Petrino and Dave Van Horn and the hiring of Mike Anderson.

The University of Arkansas Board of Trustees approved the proposed budget of $68,957,442 in its most recent meeting last month. Arkansas Athletic Director Jeff Long said the department budgets conservatively from the standpoint of projected revenues.

The coming year’s budget represents an increase of 8.9 percent from the previous year’s budget of $63,328,725.

“I think the majority, well, a great piece of that is the investment we made in coaches - Petrino, Van Horn and Coach Anderson,” Long said. “But also you’ll see significant increases in what we call the uncontrollables: Tuition, room and board, books, fees, facilities fees for students, the nonresident scholarship fee that’s been put in place. Utility expenses. Things that we really can’t control.

“You’ll see significant increases in those, and so that’s really making up the majority of the increase.”

A recent Equity in Athletics Disclosure Act (EADA) report for the 2009-2010 year showed Arkansas’ athletic department profit of $6.27 million ranked fifth in the SEC, behind Alabama ($43.997 million profit), Georgia ($11.7 million), Florida ($11.28 million) and LSU ($7.67 million).