This doesn't surprise me. Wazzu is located in a small metro, far from most of their alumni in Seattle and Portland.
The school simply cannot generate any gate, as students, who make up much of their rather enthusiastic crowds, do not pay much of anything. As a result they are entirely dependent upon donations, Pac-12 revenues (TV and NCAA revenues) and licensing rights. As it is they operate with a smaller budget than any other P5 school.
The ticket mismanagement, while a headline, represents only 1% of the $13M deficit for 2016. That is really chipping at the edges.
Quote:Auditors calculated that the discounts, in place since 2012, potentially cost Washington State over $130,000 in lost revenue for the 2016 football season.
The big costs was the football stadium and facilities renovations, which seem to have not have had the necessary donations. This makes one think about the donation cannibalism going on at EMU to pay for the $30M planned football facility when the athletic department is borrowing >$25M a year just to keep the lights on, yet claims it's all from donations (no single year of EMU athletics raised even $1M in donations).
WSU will probably wind up balancing the budget in a few years, but wont be able to pay back the money. Like Cal (recent decision by the Chancellor) I expect some the Institution will eat much of that and forgive the debt or a large chunk of it.
Overall I welcome the sunshine coming onto athletic spending (e.g., New Mexico). But I also think it was long coming, as the transfers and loans from the host institution have increased 5x to 10x in the last decade or so, and are no longer a small line item in the school budget. Auditors and regents are starting to ask what is happening to $5-25M being transferred annually, even as State's are starting to pinch school funding.