LSU could lose up to $80M if football is canceled, university president says

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LSU leaders say the school is facing a steep loss if the SEC follows the Big 10 and Pac-12 conferences in canceling fall sports.

University President Thomas Galligan said Friday that missing the fall college football season could have a $60-80 million impact on the school's revenue, especially affecting the athletics budget. If that were to happen, Galligan said the university would have to "figure it out" in order to make up some of the lost ground.

"I think we'll go back to square one with everything," Galligan said. "And even though that's a lot of money, we're gonna put safety first."

Galligan said he and other officials are meeting with SEC leaders every week to discuss the situation.

Ticket sales, parking fees, endorsements, and concession sales all add up to serious money, on top of the financial blow schools already face from COVID-19. Since the pandemic began, the president says the school has already spent about $12 million.

"We're getting the best medical advice that we could possibly get. What we did earlier was we said lets restart and push the season back until the 26th of September."

LSU has since introduced cost-cutting measures like hiring freezes and restricting travel to help limit the losses.

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