ISU Athletic Director Bruce Van De Velde met with members of the Iowa State Athletic Council Friday afternoon to begin discussing how to deal with the new budget cuts. The cuts in the athletic department are part of an $8.3 million university-wide cut announced by ISU President Gregory Geoffroy last week.

The ISU Athletic Department is being asked to cut $560,000 from its budget, stretching the smallest budget of any Big 12 school even farther. The average Big 12 school has an athletic budget of just more than $39 million, compared to ISU’s $28.5 million budget.

Van De Velde said he will try to save all sport programs and find other ways to make recent budget cuts without sacrificing any one sport.

“It’s hard to have competitive programs with the level of funding [that we have],” Van De Velde said.

“Our money is getting siphoned off and is not getting back to the sports.”

According to information provided by ISU Intercollegiate Athletics, the ISU athletic budget for 2004 will fall just short of the $29.1 million that the department is expected to spend. Only two sports — football and men’s basketball — make money for the school.

The athletic department has a $2.5 million reserve fund that will be used to cover this year’s losses.

Along with using the reserve fund, the athletic department will temporarily freeze open positions, hold facility projects and begin to analyze non-sport units — such as marketing, maintenance, academic services and media relations — for budget reductions, in hopes of finding areas to meet the university’s cuts.

Van De Velde also recommended several ideas for additional funding before the athletic council, including increased revenue through raising ticket prices, reorganizing the seats of Hilton Coliseum and beginning a scholarship endowment initiative.

Another idea involved current season ticket holders for Cyclone football games.

In an effort to finish building Jack Trice Stadium in the 1970s, donors could make a one-time contribution to the building effort and receive permanent seats inside the newly-completed stadium for life.

Many of those who made donations at that time are not donating now, a source of income Van De Velde is actively pursuing. That group of donors could be a $1 million boost to the athletic department, Van De Velde said.

Five months into this fiscal year, Van De Velde said the athletic department “is not going to touch the student-athletes” this year.

The cuts will not cause any changes in athletics scheduled for this year, but Van De Velde said he expects changes will be implemented in years to come.