Everyone nationwide has been affected one way or another by the struggling economy. Sacramento State athletics is not immune to the times. Due to the struggling economy, Sac State’s athletic department has had to utilize its resources wisely.

The athletic department took many creative steps to help survive this period, said Terry Wanless, Sac State’s director of athletics.

“Almost every coach we have is fundraising in some fashion for their programs,” Wanless said. “In most cases, it’s summer camps.”

However, things are not what they once were.

“It is not business as usual,” Wanless said. “We’re going to scrutinize any expenditure to a greater degree than we ever have in the past. We’re going to ask (coaches) to find more ways to be creative to get the job done.”

One area in particular that has been hit hard by the crisis is traveling. The university allotted approximately $3.39 million of its budget to athletics in the 2008-09 academic year. Wanless said about $1.1 million of that was specifically for travel.

Rebekah Capel, athletic travel coordinator at Sac State, said she has noticed some differences.

“Obviously, everyone is more cognizant of the budget,” Capel said. “They need to be much more creative with their travel plans.”

Capel said one issue that is prevalent is when a player needs to have an airline ticket changed. The reservations are months in advance of the actual event, which obviously does not take into account potential injuries or other factors.

“On Southwest (Airlines), it’s free, so we try to do that as much as we can,” she said. “But on Alaska (Airlines), it’s $150 to change a name. It’s difficult for football to fly commercially,” Wanless said.

Volleyball hosted tournaments on the weekends of Sept. 5 and Sept. 12, Capel said.

“We save a lot of money by not traveling preseason to a tournament,” Capel said. “It also creates a little more prestige around our university. In the long run, it’s cheaper to have teams come to us.”

Greg Warzecka, director of athletics at UC Davis, said similar problems for his department.

“We have tried to reduce out-of-state travel significantly, especially anything east of the Mississippi (River),” Warzecka said. “We’ve tried to work with schools in the Bay Area a bit better.”

The economic hardships have hit all sports at both Sac State and Davis. No one sport has been affected more than another, Wanless and Warzecka said.

Wanless said the student fee increase helped Sac State athletics to operate without drastic changes.

“It’s been a lifesaver in order to maintain the number of programs we have and to create the same opportunities that we’ve had in the past,” Wanless said. “We want to provide a quality experience. We’ve been able, on some level, to find balance between the two.”

Warzecka said the rising cost of education is a recurring issue at Davis.

“It puts great pressure on us to find the resources to fund those athletic scholarships,” Warzecka said.

Things have changed, but Wanless said there is some good that can come out of this weak economic time.

“You find ways to be more creative and to better manage than you have been forced to in the past,” he said. “It isn’t all negative.”

Dustin Nosler can be reached at [email protected]