UNLV’s athletic department has agreed to a 10-year, $57 million deal with Learfield Communications, a multimedia giant with a national footprint.
Football
Asking “what if” can be tantalizing and maddening. Las Vegas sports fans know the impact of that question.
UNLV’s athletic department is running about a $4.9 million deficit because of shortfalls in the school’s top two revenue-producing sports — men’s basketball and football.
The state’s higher education board has given Nevada’s college presidents more authority over hiring of high-profile coaches.
With no guaranteed money game on UNLV’s 2016 football schedule and men’s basketball ticket sales down 5 percent from last year at this time, the school is projected to have a budget deficit of $1.5 million to $3 million in 2016-17.
Rick Trachok, chairman of the University of Nevada Board of Regents, will propose that regents no longer vote on coaches’ contracts. The onus will be on the university president to put together a fiscally responsible deal.
Regents should have zero influence when it comes to those a university hires to run athletic programs, and that includes voting to approve the contracts offered coaches.
Our annual version of the top 10 year-end local sports stories as 2015 comes to a close …