Hawaii AD: 'Very real possibility of football going away' due to $2.1M deficit
Hawaii athletics director Ben Jay spoke to the university's Board of Regents on Monday afternoon and had some bad news about the current state of the football program.
"There's a very real possibility of football going away," Jay said, via KITV.
Jay said that the university is currently facing a $2.1-million budget deficit this year, and has operated under a budget deficit during 11 of the past 13 years.
The program has not enjoyed a winning season since back in 2010, compiling just four wins over the last two seasons. As of the end of July, only 15,568 season tickets had been sold for this season, according to The Associated Press. Aloha Stadium's capacity is 50,000.
Jay began to stress the importance of generating additional revenue in an interview with Hawaii News Now last week.
"We're going to have to generate more revenue," Jay said. "There's no doubt about that. We've always had to do that. People want to support football and basketball and baseball and all of our other sports, so it's going to come down to how are we going to get that support financially from our fan base and from all the folks who love UH athletics."
According to Jay, Hawaii faces "tough times ahead."