The economic downturn is causing problems for everyone. Here at Barking Carnival we've had to switch from drinking the tears of indigenous rainforest orphans to Evian. It's a sacrifice we're willing to make.
Athletic departments in the Big 12 are also feeling the pain. None more so than Oklahoma State. T. Boone Pickens pledged $165 million to the school, and then invested the money in his hedge fund along with $37 million from other donors. What could go wrong? Oh. Pickens has lost a billion dollars this year on his investments. So their athletic village has been put on hold.
At Kansas, a booster who pledged $12 million for a football complex had been ousted from his company, and it's now going through bankruptcy proceedings. The field inside Kansas' football stadium was going to be renamed to honor him.
At Oklahoma, a donor who pledged $7 million had to personally sell a bunch of shares of his own company. OU's athletic director declined to say whether or not they had received the money.
Even Texas is feeling the pinch. Not really. They raised $35 million last year and are sitting on a $29 million endowment. There will of course be sacrifices, but they probably won't effect the football program that much.
"We’ll probably see it first in baseball, maybe, and then maybe in basketball," Texas athletic director Deloss Dodds said. "We’ve lost a couple of suite holders in basketball, and I think the economy is part of the reason there. I think people will hold on to their football stuff as long as they can."