In a rat-a-tat first week as the University of Hawaii’s athletic director, Matt Elliott met with staff, coaches, athletes and boosters; analyzed reports and data, and acted on day-to-day matters.
“We’re having meetings every day where we’re making decisions already, and that’s the nature of the business,” Elliott said. “This thing moves fast, and you’ve got to be ready to respond. If there’s a deadline — the NCAA’s got a deadline or we’ve got to make a decision about something else, or budgets are due, whatever the case may be — we’re going to make those decisions and not miss deadlines. But, obviously, I do believe we’re all better when we have all the information that we can to make the best decision. That doesn’t mean we’re going to hide behind ‘gathering information’ to make decisions. But I also think if you’re rash, you might regret it down the road.”
Elliott faces larger concerns, such as:
Charter flights
In 2023, UH’s athletic department hired a performance adviser who emphasized rest and recovery methods. That meant the Rainbow Warriors would travel earlier and return later on commercial flights for football road games. For the 2023 road game against Wyoming, the Warriors departed on Tuesday to Fort Collins, Colo., spent three nights there, checked into a hotel in Laramie, Wyo., on Friday, bused to Denver after Saturday’s game, and then returned to Honolulu on a nonstop flight on Sunday.
Those 2023 travel plans dramatically increased the travel budget. Then-UH athletic director Craig Angelos decided that by shortening the stay on road trips, the Warriors could turn the savings into charter flights for the 2024 season’s five road games. But the 2024 travel budget was based on the 2023 budget, which was significantly higher than 2022’s.
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The Warriors have booked the hotels and buses for this coming season’s five road games. But Elliott, who favors a football team traveling by charter, is still receiving cost-comparison information before deciding on a travel plan. Unlike last season, the sites for this year’s road games are accessible through nonstop commercial flights, which makes the costs significantly less expensive than using charters. The cost of charter flights also has jumped substantially.
“I can confirm charter flights are more expensive than commercial flights,” Elliott said. “We’re looking at getting the entire cost-comparison down right now, and we’ll make that decision soon.”
Elliott noted there are “clear benefits” to using charters, including more space for the players and the team boarding a return flight a few hours after a game’s final whistle. And while a direct commercial flight is better than having a layover, the team probably would have to add another hotel night. Another concern is whether a commercial flight, which shares storage with other travelers, can accommodate all the Warriors’ equipment.
“Everybody’s bringing the information to me, but, yes, it’s time to make a decision, I agree with that,” Elliott said.
House vs. NCAA settlement
UH is among more than 315 Division I programs that opted into the House vs. NCAA settlement, in which the NCAA will pay $2.8 billion in back damages over the next 10 years to players who were deprived of payments for use of their name, image and likeness. Players who competed in the NCAA from 2016 through today are eligible to be considered for compensation. The settlement also allows NCAA schools to share up to $20.5 million in revenue with players each academic year — in essence, to pay players directly.
“In my mind, it’s not even a choice, right?” Elliott said of opting into the settlement. “This is something you have to do if you want to compete at this level. But right now it’s our job to find the resources.”
In the past couple of decades, UH athletics has finished in the red all but once. (It essentially broke even in the fiscal year ending June 30, 2023, the final year under former AD David Matlin.) UH is expected to be able to pay a few million directly to players initially.
The past few years, collectives — outside fundraising groups such as the Rainbow Collective, Downtown Athletic Club of Hawaii, Braddahhood Grindz and Hawaii Warrior Football Network — arranged NIL deals with players.
“What this means is we’re moving from where the collectives were solely responsible for finding resources that they can then share with our student-athletes to now the institution has the ability to be involved in that and have more control over it,” Elliott said. “The plan we need to create is, A) how do we manage that as an institution, and B) how do we go out and find the money to be able to share those resources with our students. That’s absolutely a priority focus for us in the next two weeks.”
A likely scenario is a split arrangement in which collectives remain involved, donating money for NILs to the athletic department or continuing to broker deals.
“A third party, like a car dealership or some other business in town, says, ‘I want to hire this person, essentially to use their name, image and likeness to support our business,’” Elliott said. “If they want to do that, that can still happen. That’s still an additional opportunity for our student-athletes to earn revenue.”
Expanding rosters
As part of the House settlement, the NCAA Board of Directors approved increasing the scholarship limits. In football, the roster size reduces from about 120 players to 105. But every player on the roster is eligible to receive a scholarship. Previously, scholarships were capped at 85 players. The baseball scholarship limits increase from the financial equivalent of 11.7 to 34. Women’s soccer doubles from 14 to 28; men’s volleyball from 4.5 to 18, and women’s volleyball from 12 to 18. In last month’s report to UH’s Board of Regents, it was estimated that it would cost the athletic department $7,872,264 to increase scholarships from last year’s 246 to the new limit of 444.
“All of those things are part of the same discussion,” Elliott said. “What you’re doing with your scholarships, what you’re doing with revenue sharing, and what you’re doing with your rosters are all part of the new House settlement. And that’s again where I feel like we’re not ready to make those decisions because I don’t know everything about how we’re operating yet. I’m learning that over the course of the next couple days. I understand how to apply it on this new national model, but I have to understand what happens here within UH, and once we figure that out, then we’ll have those answers. I really aspire to have that done over the course of the next month or so.”
Television contracts
UH has been working on a gap-year deal with Spectrum, whose contract as the local-rights holder to UH sportscasts expired last month.
“All I can say right now is we’re working diligently to get that done,” Elliott said. “Once we have that done and we know what the final parameters are, then we’ll be happy to talk about them and explain how we got to the place that we are.”
With UH a football-only member since July 1, 2012, the Mountain West owns the media rights to all members’ football and basketball telecasts. The MW has allowed UH to keep its revenue from Spectrum, valued at up to $3.2 million last academic year, while earning a minimal share from the league’s national-TV contracts. On July 1, 2026, 15 UH sports will join the Warrior football team as MW members. By then, the MW is expected to have secured new national TV deals.
If UH’s local TV rights are thrown into the MW pot, as expected, then Elliott is hopeful the football Warriors’ value is acknowledged. Because of the time difference, UH’s home football games are in the last-game-of-the-day time slot that is popular among gamblers and nocturnal viewers.
“I think that’s part of our job to make sure the Mountain West and any potential media partner understands the value of our games,” Elliott said. “Whatever sports they’re putting on the table — football, basketball, volleyball, baseball, etc. — we are increasing the overall value. That’s what being a good conference member means. That you are adding value to the overall pot for that conference to go out and be able to negotiate those deals with whatever media partners there are. Yes, we will lean in completely to the Mountain West monetizing those assets because that’s better for the conference and that’s better for us overall.”