With football on hold, Purdue athletic department challenged

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Since March, Mike Bobinski and his peers all across college sports have challenges unprecedented for their progress.

But for Purdue's athletic director, now may come the hard part.

While Tuesday's news of the Big Ten postponing all fall sports — most notably, football — with the hopes to play in the spring can't be called the worst-case scenario, since there may be a season eventually, it was dreadful news nonetheless for those who sign the checks as part of the massive economic enterprise that is modern college athletics.

Purdue's athletic department is now a hundred-plus-million-per-year operation, and like all of its Power Five counterparts and most college programs of meaningful magnitude, football drives it. There remain moving parts here in terms of just how great a financial challenge this may be, but Bobinski's said in the past that football can be linked In some way to revenue totals adding up to around $60 million.

According to Purdue's 2018-19 NCAA financial report – the most recent data available — the athletic department brought in $29,619,485 in football money in media rights alone. That says nothing of game-day revenue, including nearly $8 million in ticket sales, and all else. Purdue football total operating revenue for 2018-19 was $54,752,462.

(Under normal circumstances, Purdue's cashflow from football would have decreased with one fewer home game on the schedule.)

Purdue will save millions in game-operations expenses and that will help — "help" is relative here — but those are big numbers, and with them, Purdue has managed a balanced budget.

Now, a situation where pleasant options may not exist, and one where things can be worsened by any adverse effect on basketball season.

"None of it is very much fun, and none of it is anything any of us would have anticipated having to deal with, but here we are," Bobinski said. "We have to find our way through this."

Bobinski called it mere coincidence that the Big Ten fall season was called off officially shortly after Purdue had announced plans for its "More Than A Game" fund-raising campaign with the John Purdue Club, in which It hopes to raise enough money privately to help carry it through these next few months, or however long the financial pain is most acute.

"It's probably the most important thing we'll ever do, as we sit here today," Bobinski said, during his news conference. "I didn't anticipate that being the case, but now it's something that's absolutely imperative if we're going to find our way through this.

"There aren't enough things I can do independently literally without dismissing our whole staff and saying, 'Hey, don't come back for a year' — which is obviously not feasible nor desirable or any of the above. We have to ask and rely on people to try to help us through this. I'm optimistic the response will be good, but everyone has their own challenges and I understand that also, but we're going to do our very best to be aggressive and raise the dollars necessary to get us to a good place on the other side of this."

Bobinski said the department has already curbed spending to the extent with which It can, but basic expenses like scholarship money, debt service and salaries obviously remain.

He conceded "very difficult and sometimes painful actions" may be required. To this point, Purdue's athletic department has been largely unscathed as peers have dropped sports, cut salaries or furloughed or laid off employees.

Now, all options — however repulsive they may be — may be on the table, an undesirable position Purdue certainly isn't alone in.

Outside help will be sought also, beyond the fund-raising campaign, Bobinski said when asked If there may be any "bailout" mechanisms at his disposal.

"It will have to come in the form of some sort of financing arrangement," he said. "I don't know what the source of that might be, nor the duration, nor the terms. But as we work through this, I feel certain that will be a necessity. We just don't know yet what that will look like."

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