With the Services and Activities Fee Committee looking to wean the WSU athletics department off S & A funds in coming years, the department will depend on its new television contract to pay off its current $10 million deficit.

The department has operated at the deficit this fiscal year in an effort to stay competitive in the economically expanding landscape of the Pac-12.

In May of 2011, the Pac-12 signed a deal with Fox and ESPN that substantially increased television revenue for all the athletics programs in the conference. For WSU Athletics, that revenue jumped from $5 million to $16.5 million, and this number is expected to grow in coming years. With this new influx of revenue, the department immediately began to invest in the future.

“We invested in football and staff, to hire a national coach of the year to help bring credibility to our program in the Pac-12, and we invested in facilities,” said Matt Kleffner, the WSU Athletics chief financial officer.

Program officials said waiting to invest simply wasn’t an option if they wanted to stay relevant.

“We needed to invest before we totally had the money to pay for everything,” WSU Athletics Director Bill Moos said. “Otherwise we would have been left in the dust while other schools in the conference were doing what we ended up doing ourselves.”

Kleffner said WSU wasn’t alone in making considerable investments right away.

“Within a year of that (television) contract being signed, there was over a billion dollars’ worth of facilities projects across the conference,” he said. “We are just a part of that same effort, trying to keep competitive in a very competitive conference.”

Even with the TV contract, investments continue to outpace revenue. While the deficit remains, Kleffner said everything has gone according to the plan.

“It’s a planned investment; it’s a planned deficit,” he said. “Now that we made the investment we are going to be underwater for a couple years while we start digesting that Pac-12 TV contract.”

A number of S & A members said during a deliberation meeting Thursday that although now isn’t the time for drastic cuts, they would like to begin limiting the funds allocated to the Athletics department.

Kleffner said the deficit is a temporary measure, and the department expects to be profitable again in the 2017 fiscal year.

“I would say the Pac-12 money is probably 40 to 45 percent of our budget,” he said. “And of that money, probably 80 to 90 percent of that is related to the TV contract, which is guaranteed and escalates at a good rate. That’s what pulls us out of the hole.”

Moos estimated profits will more likely come in the 2018 fiscal year.

University budget officials said deficits are uncommon, but exceptions can be made when it comes to self-sustaining departments.

“We actually have a policy that says areas aren’t to run a deficit,” said Joan King, the associate vice president and chief university budget officer of WSU. “With regard to athletics, though, the decision was made that they can run a deficit in the first few years because we know there is this big revenue coming later.”

King said when the time comes, the athletics department will be held responsible for the entire sum of the accumulated deficit.

“It won’t just be one-year coverage,” she said. “They’ve got to cover their whole deficit when that additional revenue comes in.”

WSU Athletics officials said every program in the Pac-12 is benefiting from the new investments, and students should as well.

“The students deserve to have an experience during their time at Washington State that’s fun and exciting in regards to intercollegiate athletics,” Moos said.