Sports subsidies

The wretched Nevada economy and state budget cuts have forced sacrifice across the UNLV campus. This long-overdue adjustment to the university's mission extends to its athletic department, which is projecting a deficit of nearly $2 million for the fiscal year that ends in just seven weeks.

Newly hired Athletic Director Jim Livengood could empty his department's reserve fund to balance the books through June, or he might resort to some combination of furloughs, salary freezes and layoffs to keep UNLV's intercollegiate teams whole.

"Right now, I'm looking at everything," he said. "I'd like to get away from (layoffs). I just don't know that we can."

What Mr. Livengood does know, however, is that he must plan on moving the Rebels forward without the future support of Nevada taxpayers.

Already, the Legislature has reduced state subsidies for UNLV athletics by $2 million through June 2011. The university is counting on nearly $6 million in taxpayer subsidies for next fiscal year, with more than half of it supporting student-athlete scholarships. But if the past three years have taught higher education leaders anything, it's that there are no guarantees. Lawmakers might yet make that number smaller.

UNLV hired Mr. Livengood in December from the University of Arizona, which receives no state subsidies for sports. He kept that department in the black primarily through fundraising and improving its football program.

It's a model Mr. Livengood and UNLV President Neal Smatresk have committed to realizing at UNLV, starting with the hiring of new football coach Bobby Hauck. The Rebel program ran more than $3 million in the red this year.

Losses like that are not sustainable. The sooner taxpayers and UNLV are freed from this burden, the better.