UT athletics director says donations up

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - Despite a shaky economy, donations to Tennessee athletics is on the upswing, athletics director Mike Hamilton said.

By the beginning of April, almost 12,000 donors had given $33.8 million to the athletic department for fiscal year 2007-08 -- $5 million more than had been collected by the same time the previous year.

``Why? I think that major gift fundraising primarily happens out of assets rather than out of operating income,'' he told The Associated Press earlier this week. ``I think we face a greater possibility of the economy affecting us as we go into this coming year.''

Donations have risen gradually from $11.5 million in fiscal year 1997-98 to $34 million in fiscal year 2006-07.

Hamilton said he didn't think consumer confidence was shaken enough to affect fans' decisions on donations and attending sporting events until recent months.

``For the most part, by then our donations were already in and people had already made decisions about buying season football tickets,'' he said.

As a condition of qualifying for Tennessee season football tickets, many fans must make a donation to the Volunteer Athletics and Scholarship Fund on top of purchasing the tickets. The VASF represents the largest chunk of donations to the athletic department, bringing nearly $19 million last fiscal year.

Even though athletics officials decided to raise the cost of season tickets by $19 per game, the renewal rate for season tickets has hovered around 97 percent, the typical renewal rate for tickets.

``I'm curious to see in the fall, will people come up and stay two nights or will they drive from West Tennessee and back in a day? I think that's where some of that will occur,'' Hamilton said.

Hamilton also credited an aggressive fundraising campaign as part of the university's overall $1 billion fundraising campaign to raise funds for a number of athletic capital projects.

Workers have been renovating Neyland Stadium during the offseason, upgrading the concourse, expanding the team's locker room and adding a Lettermen's Room to host former players and donors at the stadium.

Additional upgrades to Thompson-Boling Arena, baseball's Lindsey Nelson Stadium and other athletic facilities are in the works as well.

``Part of that equation is that we've committed personnel to raise the money. Anytime we have added personnel in development, we have seen on the flip side of it significant success in terms of dollars produced,'' Hamilton said.