Recurring financial problems have left the ISU men’s hockey club in debt and put their upcoming season in jeopardy, but university officials are predicting a deal will be arranged to pull the team out of the red. The team’s budget has come under scrutiny by university and student leaders since it closed out the 1999-2000 fiscal year this summer with a negative balance. A collaborative effort among the Government of the Student Body Finance Committee, the Campus Organization Accounting Office, Recreational Services, the Dean of the Students Office and members of the hockey team is underway to stabilize the team’s finances. “We met with hockey club representatives and discussed their funding cycles and the need to meet their expenses so they break even or are ahead when it’s time to turn it their books,” said Pete Englin, interim dean of students. There is about a $10,000 discrepancy between the club’s records and the Campus Organization Accounting Office’s records, so the extent of the team’s debt is not yet known. However, once the record books coincide, the team will undertake fund-raising efforts and probably will request money from GSB to repay the debt. Also, the team has a $30,000 account with the ISU Foundation, and money from that account may be transferred. The team’s financial situation has been a problem for several years, in part because of its large budget, said Larry Cooney, director of recreational services. Travel expenses, equipment upkeep and rental for the ice arena account for its $240,000 annual budget. “We expect clubs to have a positive balance at the end of the year,” Cooney said. “The hockey club, in terms of equipment and travel, has a bigger budget than other clubs. It takes a lot of money to have a hockey club.” In addition, the team has been set back by the condition of the old ice arena north of Towers Residence Association, which will be replaced soon by a new facility. “What has happened in the past is that the club had three home weekends canceled in the ’98-’99 season when the ice arena went down,” said Mike Owen, faculty adviser for the hockey club. Each home game brings in about $7,000, and the team lost that revenue from the canceled games, putting them behind in the budget. With the new ice arena, the team will not have to worry about missing home games, but revenue from ticket sales is not expected to increase as there will be about the same amount of seating. In past years, when the team had a negative balance at the end of the fiscal year, recreational services would cover the debt and the team would pay back the money in the fall after the first fund-raising drives. “Just to be consistent with our policy, we have provided coverage of their debts based on the understanding that they would pay it back in the fall,” Cooney said. “We would do this for any club that is in trouble.” However, recreational services did not assist the team this year, leaving the hockey club to come up with other ways to cover their debt. “To be fair to other clubs, we can’t continue to operate this way,” Cooney said. “We do not want this to become a pattern. We have to seek another solution, and the natural place for that is GSB.” At the beginning of the school year, a bill was submitted to the GSB Rules Committee requesting nearly $8,000 from the Senate Special Projects account for the hockey team to purchase new equipment. The bill was referred to the Finance Committee, and the committee leaders requested financial documents of the team’s campus organizations account and the ISU Foundation account. “We’re not going to shut them down just because they are in debt,” said Alex Olson, vice chairman of the GSB Finance Committee. “But, if we make an agreement, it is imperative that everyone is at the table at the same time.” In regular spring allocations, in which GSB distributes student-fee money to campus organizations, the men’s hockey club received about $16,000. Within one year, the club requested more money from GSB twice to pay for their trips to the national tournament. According to its bylaws, GSB cannot fund an organization in debt, but the finance committee is willing to work with the team to strike a deal, Olson said. “GSB has been very good about supporting the club,” Cooney said. “The club is going to need all the help it can get, and it may mean making some cutbacks.” The members of the hockey team are expected to raise at least $1,000 a year, GSB Finance Director Steve Medanic said. “They’ve been moving the bar up the last few years,” he said. “They [hockey team members] are taking the initiative to pay off that debt.” Through the ordeal, team members have remained positive and focused on their season, Owen said. “As faculty adviser, I don’t see why the student athletes should pay because we couldn’t play hockey those three weekends,” he said. “The guys are really working hard and keeping a positive outlook about all of this.”