UNLV athletics meets budget for first time in years

While not ignoring the serious issues that face University of Nevada, Las Vegas athletics, the woman who runs the department had plenty to sell Monday in a luncheon with the media.

More season football tickets have been sold, the athletic department is in the black, and athletes are getting the job done in the classroom.

Athletic director Tina Kunzer-Murphy was all too happy to tout those accomplishments while also talking about the growing inequality between the power conferences and the Group of Five, the announcement that still has not come regarding construction of a football facility, and concerns about the Thomas & Mack Center losing events down Tropicana Avenue to the new arena.

First, the good news for the Rebels.

UNLV already has sold 4,129 season football tickets, more than the 4,038 it sold all of last year.

Nearly $85,000 in single-game online-only tickets were sold Thursday, the highest amount anyone associated with UNLV could remember. All single-game tickets went on sale Monday.

Kunzer-Murphy credited first-year coach Tony Sanchez with creating enthusiasm for the program. He was hired after winning six consecutive state championships at Bishop Gorman High School.

"I think (fans) were waiting for Tony to come in," Kunzer-Murphy said. "That's a lot to put on a 41-year-old guy from high school, but he can handle it. I think he's done a wonderful job of connecting with the community, connecting with the university, connecting with student-athletes."

As for the department overall, UNLV met its budget for the first time in many years. UNLV had a $52,000 surplus for the 2014-15 academic year for its $33 million budget. The surplus would have been about $500,000 more if not for the football coaching change in which Bobby Hauck resigned and Sanchez was hired.

Darryl Seibel, UNLV's deputy athletic director for external relations, said he didn't know when the department last met its budget without an infusion of money from the university beyond the budgeted amount. Athletics received the budgeted $2.2 million from the university in the most recent academic year, and the Thomas & Mack Center provided $2.8 million, which is largely sponsorship revenue from UNLV athletic events that take place in the building.

Kunzer-Murphy also said all 17 sports achieved the minimum Academic Progress Rate score of 930 required by the NCAA to be eligible for postseason play, and that six sports had perfect scores of 1,000.

UNLV had a school-best 56 members receive the Mountain West's Scholar Athlete Award for 2014-15 by achieving at least a 3.5 cumulative grade-point average, and 50 percent of Rebels athletes earned a cumulative GPA of at least 3.0.

But hard work remains, as Kunzer-Murphy mentioned more than once, and funding cost of attendance — money that covers more than a traditional scholarship — is a challenge. She said UNLV has committed to spending $60,000 to fund cost of attendance for men's basketball and $63,000 for the women.

"It is our plan to move forward and provide cost of attendance for all of our student-athletes next year," Kunzer-Murphy said. "There's not a plan particularly put in place, but we've moving toward that. In order for us to be competitive with everyone in the country, we have to find the means and the ways to do that."

UNLV also is fighting to keep up with the nationwide race of improving facilities. Sam Boyd Stadium recently underwent $1.2 million in renovations, and a $2.75 million baseball clubhouse is nearing completion at Wilson Stadium.

Those are the sorts of steps taken at UNLV and elsewhere as schools position themselves for the major change expected to continue in college athletics. Kunzer-Murphy echoed the speculation that exists that about 80 schools will break away from the pack and form their own division.

"We've got to find new revenue streams and stay in the game and make sure we're in the debate for what's going to happen in the next five to 10 years," she said.

A new football facility that includes a top-of-the-line weight room, locker room and academic center would help any UNLV argument for playing with the big boys, and Kunzer-Murphy said she hoped an announcement would come before the end of the season. She said plans have been put together and meetings have taken place with those who might help finance the building.

"A lot of people are looking to our institution and wanting to see our commitment to UNLV football," Kunzer-Murphy said. "There's nothing to report today other than to say it's our No. 1 priority."

Whether the Fertitta family, which has a close association with Bishop Gorman and Sanchez, helps finance the facility is unknown.

"We've said it time and time again, it's not going to take one family," Kunzer-Murphy said. "It's going to take multiple people to say, 'We want to see this program move forward.' "

Regarding an already existing building on campus, the Thomas & Mack suffered its first loss to the new AEG-MGM arena being constructed when the Professional Bull Riders announced Sunday the organization would move its PBR World Finals beginning in November 2016.

It could be the first of many exits from the T&M, but Kunzer-Murphy said she welcomed the new arena and believed the $70 million to $72 million renovation underway at the Thomas & Mack will make the campus facility attractive for many events.

"I think it's great for the city," she said of the new arena. "I think the new arena is going to be spectacular. I don't see it taking away from us. I think it enhances the sports fever that we're trying to create in the city of Las Vegas."

Contact Mark Anderson at manderson@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2914. Follow him: @markanderson65