Staff Report
A bill that would allow UNM and NMSU's athletic departments to put surcharges on products and services is waiting for Gov. Bill Richardson's signature.
Senate Bill 717 gives the universities the right to put a surcharge of 5 percent to 25 percent on anything related to athletics, including merchandise, concessions and broadcasting rights.
The money will be used for capital projects and athletic facilities that seat more than 12,000.
For UNM, that means renovating The Pit and completing the bowl at University Stadium, said Democratic Sen. James Taylor, who sponsored the bill.
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Taylor has sponsored similar bills, including one for Isotopes Park.
The bill does not aim to increase ticket prices, although it does afford the universities that right, Taylor said.
"One of the last things that the surcharge is ever used on is tickets," he said. "They're not going to hurt their ticket buyers."
Paul Krebs, director of UNM's Athletics Department, said there are no plans for how the bill will be applied. It is irrelevant until Richardson signs it, Krebs said.
Taylor said the goal of the bill is to allow the universities to charge more for broadcasting rights, which they could be making a lot more money on.
Broadcasters such as ESPN will be willing to pay extra to get the Lobos on their network, Taylor said.
"They've got the dollars to pay what they need to pay," he said. "They're going to pay that, because that's the cost of dealing with the University's athletic department."
Taylor said UNM has a lot of top academic programs, but that's not what it's nationally known for.
The University needs to be able to boost athletics without competing with academic departments for state funding, Taylor said.
"The bottom line is that the
athletic department is the welcome mat to the University," he said. "We want to do whatever we can do for athletics without taking away from our academic end of the University's mission."
