This is the fifth story in a series regarding the Ohio Valley Conference postponing fall sports until spring of 2021.
Brady Barke holds degrees from three different universities, so knowledge is sort of “his thing.” However, none of those diplomas earned by the fourth-year Southeast Missouri State Athletic Director came in the field of wizardry. But that is precisely what Barke is trying to exhibit as he navigates the problematic financial situation that his athletic department finds itself in.
The global pandemic unleashed earlier this year onto the world has created financial chaos in most walks of life and intercollegiate athletics have not been immune to that.
“It’s going to be a challenge,” Barke said of trying to keep his athletic department strong financially over the coming… months? Years?
Who knows how long the effects of COVID will be with the world?
“We’re going to be tested in ways that we have never been tested before,” Barke said. “To an extent, we’re going to hope that our community and our fan base responds and recognizes the challenges that are ahead of us and support us.”
That is precisely why he recently posted a video on social media asking Redhawk fans to do just that.
The pandemic didn’t just throw a sucker punch at Barke and SEMO Athletics, it has chucked multiple body blows to the highly-successful department and those hits aren’t finished coming, not by a long shot.
The pummeling has been taking place since March and the cancellation of fall sports recently by the Ohio Valley Conference is just the latest implication.
“We know that it is going to be difficult now,” Barke said, “having lost our (football) guarantee game with Ole Miss.”
The decision by the Southeastern Conference earlier this month to play just league games cost SEMO $450,000.
Couple that with the loss of ticket revenue from fall sports, the loss of NCAA Basketball Tournament revenue last spring, and the additional scholarship costs incurred with the return of some spring and fall senior athletes into the future, the Redhawks are just taking a beating financially, as is everybody else in college athletics.
All of that is in addition to the unplanned expense of COVD testing for SEMO staff and student-athletes over the next – again, who knows how long this will continue?
“We don’t know what is ahead of us still,” Barke said.
Several NCAA Division I men’s basketball coaches have told Semoball.com that, like football, men’s basketball programs are in real danger of losing their guarantee games this season, as well.
How Barke has managed this dilemma is exactly how families across the world have had to figure out over the past eight months.
He has sought ways to increase revenue, while also exploring every possible cost-saving measure possible. To a degree.
“We’re trying to work every day at figuring out what do some reduced expenses look like for us,” Barke pondered. “How can we operate a little bit differently?”
So far, those reductions have not been absolutely gut-wrenching for Barke.
Institutions all over the country have eliminated positions, not filled open ones, and/or cut pay for workers, through various means, including furloughs.
So far… knock on Barke’s wooden desk… SEMO has not taken those steps as of yet.
“We have been really fortunate that we have been able to continue operationally the way that we always have been,” Barke said. “The institution has really made an effort to do that. We hope that we don’t have to get into situations like that.”
Barke explained that surviving this unfathomable time is a day-by-day process and so far, the Redhawks are still soaring, if not as high as they would like.
“Every day is a new challenge for us,” Barke said. “That is why we are just taking this a day at a time.”
Posting a comment requires free registration:
Menu
