Joel Maturi told Sports Headliners that his future as Gophers athletics director is likely to be determined by year’s end.
Although incoming University of Minnesota president Eric Kaler doesn’t officially take over until July 1, Maturi and Kaler have been communicating on various subjects. Maturi’s contract ends next year and he’s expressed interest in remaining in the job he’s held since 2002.
“Last time we spoke about this topic − a couple months ago − I think we both decided that late next fall, once he got to know me and once I got to know him, we both could assess the environment and what would be best for the University of Minnesota,” Maturi said last week. “We’ll probably decide whether I would go beyond next year at that time.”
Maturi, 66, has also talked to Kaler about the athletics department budget. Funding is an ongoing challenge for the 25-sport department that is almost entirely self-supporting from ticket, TV and other revenues.
He has told Kaler that funding support for the department from the University has decreased in recent years. Maturi shared similar information in an e-mail to Gophers supporters in February when he wrote that money from the University has declined from $6.8 million in 2002-2003 to $2.3 million in 2010-2011.
Those figures represent a decrease from 14 percent to 3 percent of the total department budget. But Maturi wrote in the e-mail that the department has “operated with a balanced budget since my arrival in 2002.”
Contributing to the budget challenge is a situation for the last two years involving the state legislature. Lawmakers have said the Gophers can’t serve alcohol exclusively in suites and other preferred seating areas at TCF Bank Stadium, Williams Arena and Mariucci Arena. Some legislators argue that if alcohol is made available at U sports venues it should be sold to all adults in attendance, not just those in premium seating areas.
The Gophers have lost premium seating customers because of the policy, but the University hopes to persuade lawmakers during this legislative session to make a change (other major college programs sell alcohol in suites and other special areas). It’s obviously a change Maturi would welcome.
“We’re talking millions of dollars being lost by intercollegiate athletics and we could use that money,” he said. “I am hopeful that considering the financial challenges that all of us face, they (legislators) allow us that opportunity to generate the revenues that we have been losing the last two years.”