While the $52 million renovation of the Kibbie Dome has been in the public spotlight, the less sensational financial and organizational challenges already facing the facility have received little notice.

In fiscal year 2009, it is estimated that running the Kibbie Dome will cost about $1.1 million. At least half of this will be directly paid for by students.
After revenues from student fees and other sources, it is estimated that the Kibbie Dome will generate a deficit of $143,787, said Kimi Lucas, director of business operations for Auxiliary Services.

Although Lucas said she was comfortable with the accuracy of those numbers, she said she had a hard time getting them.
“I had to go into probably 20 budgets,” she said. “No one else should have to do as much work as I did to get that.”
University Support Services — formed last year — is in charge of running the building itself.

To compensate for the possible deficit, Lucas requested an additional $8.41 increase for full time students to the student fee committee in February. The committee reduced this request to $3.97, which could face further reduction because the Idaho State Board of Education reduced UI’s overall proposal by almost 3 percent.

Lucas said that the requested increase was the minimal amount required and did not account for unforeseeable expenses, such as fixing the roof on the east end of the Dome, which will cost $200,000 to $300,000.
“(USS) couldn’t ask for that money,” Lucas said. “We’ll be in the hole.”

USS is also in charge of scheduling events at the Kibbie Dome. There were 1,200 events last year in the Dome; 47 percent of which were athletic.
Bringing in money through the Kibbie Dome is a balancing act between scheduling student and athletic events and events that bring in money, said Rob Anderson, director of USS.

“I’m trying really hard to figure out how we can bring in additional revenue,” he said. “Unfortunately, because of the use of the facility, it’s very hard to find windows of opportunity for those things that will generate revenue. And there’s constant pressure from athletics for more time.”
Anderson said he also focuses on logistics such as storage, maintenance and cleaning.

“How are we going to afford shampooing the carpets? Very unglamorous, but important things,” he said. “In the beginning, there’s not a lot of maintenance, down the line it becomes more expensive.”

Anderson said the cost of cleaning the Dome may increase with the additional square footage provided by the phase two renovations.
“There’s more space to clean … we don’t have a lot of money in the budget for additional custodians,” he said.
Student fees pay 50 percent of maintenance and operation of the Dome directly, Lucas said. The rest comes from the university’s central budget and other sources.

The new Fiberglas ends will be more energy efficient and may save money that could compensate for additional cleaning and maintenance costs.
USS acts like a landlord running the Kibbie Dome, Anderson said.

“Athletics is a tenant, a very important tenant,” he said.
Although athletics pays for the equipment and labor of games through the events department, athletics does not directly pay rent to USS for the Kibbie facility because they are an internal entity, Anderson said.

“There’s no support directly from athletics,” Lucas said. “Student fees have been gathered for the Kibbie Dome since it was built.”
Lucas and Anderson hope to reach an agreement with athletics about dividing financial obligations.
“We need to finally get on paper and get some guidelines of what are the expectations from each side,” Lucas said. “I don’t have a single piece of paper that says what they will give, how or why.”

“That’s the discussion we’ve initiated,” Anderson said.
Senior Associate Athletic Director Matt Kleffner has been “very receptive” to these concerns, Anderson said.
So far, USS is not going to benefit directly from the possible $1 million generated annually by phase two premium seating, Anderson said.
“We wouldn’t see any of that revenue,” he said.

Non-university organizations also use the Dome and can add to the cost of using the facility, but sometimes bring in money for the community. Others do not.

“Life on Wheels was a perfect example,” Anderson said. “They had these great deals that had been given to them in the years past. We had to bring them to a more realistic (price), and they made a business decision that they could get it cheaper at LCSC. I didn’t feel comfortable — no one did — to put that burden on the students.”

Anderson and Lucas said that while the Kibbie Dome is being renovated, more strain will be put on other facilities such as Memorial Gym and Student Recreation Center.

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