FAMU AD Hayes makes plea for more money

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He even pleaded for fans who have made it a tradition to watch theRattlers' home football games from "the hill" outside of BraggStadium to pay for their spots.
Taking such measures is necessary to help FAMU raise almost $4million for its 2008-09 $11 million budget, Hayes said. FAMU hasalready raised $7.1 million of what it will need to run its 18athletic programs for the upcoming seasons that begin in the fall,he said.
Spending for the athletic program exceeded its $7.1 million budgetby $2.5 million last year, he said.
"We've got to recover to the point that we're going to be able todo the bare bones necessities that it's going to take for us tofunction this year," Hayes said, speaking on former FAMU athleticdirector Roosevelt Wilson's talk show on 1450-AM, "Against theGrain."
"We need money and we need it now. We don't need pledges. We needto make sure we can get through the football season first."
Hayes said he's made sweeping cuts throughout the athleticdepartment — with the exception of its biggest moneymaker,football. More than $80,000 was recently pumped into the program toupgrade the weight room, add digital camera equipment and rid thefootball field of grass-eating pests, he said.
"We're going to do everything we can to help Joe (Taylor) and theteam get off to a great start," Hayes said. "We just need the fans.
"That crowd that sits on the hill and boasts that they can see thegame without paying — they've got to stop that. That'scounterproductive."
While the travel budget will stay intact for football, it will bereduced for all other programs, Hayes said. The exception will beconference games on the road.
At the same time, he said, he'll introduce several incentives toget financial support from the public and FAMU's boosters. One ofhis biggest initiatives is a 1,000 strikes drive that requests eachbooster to donate at least $1,000 to athletics.
Hayes is reducing the price of general admission tickets tofootball games by $5 to increase attendance, and hopefully bring inmore cash.
He is also offering a "family package" set at $300 that would coveradmission to all football and basketball games and any banquetswhere a paid admission is required.
Some of the shortfall, Hayes said, is the result of the largenumber of free tickets handed out to football games. About 4,000tickets were given away for last year's homecoming game and another633 freebies were handed out for other home games. That translatesto more than $90,000 in lost revenues, he said.
"I've been somewhat misunderstood along the way (but) we need toput a body in every seat," he said. "We need to pay for every seat.You can't give your program away."
Hayes also said that FAMU will step up policing of unauthorizedsales of products with the school's logo. He suggested that fansshould purchase only products approved by the Collegiate LicensingCompany to which FAMU pays a copyright fee.
"It might seem like a little thing, but when you consider all ofthe T-shirts sold and if that product is licensed that might mean abook for a kid," he said.
Hayes didn't say exactly how much FAMU loses to illegal vendors,but it's substantial he said.
"Right now we're in the red," he said. "My job is to get us in theblack."