Iowa Prepared To Cover Financial Shortfalls

Iowa athletics director Gary Barta talked last Thursday about his department's financial situation during the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to the NCAA canceling winter championships as well as the entire spring season.

Barta said there remains a hiring freeze and a spending freeze within the department.

"We're going to cover any shortfall," Barta said. "We anticipate it will be seven figures, multiple seven figures. But we have reserves prepared to cover that shortfall."

Barta said he is planning for more financial pain in the next fiscal year, which begins on July 1.

"We've dug in pretty deep into some assumptions for next year," Barta said. "We don't have final numbers. We know our revenue will be down, even under a best-case scenario. We're certainly planning for a reduction in revenue."

Barta said there has been discussions about compensation cuts for staff members, as well as operating cuts. He called it a "shared sacrifice."

"Everybody's trying to figure this out financially moving forward," he said.