Iowa State Basketball Hilton Coliseum In Jeopardy Amid Budget Cuts From Unusual Source

James H. Hilton Coliseum is located in Ames, Iowa southeast of Iowa State's campus. The 14,267 seat, multi-purpose arena is home to many Cyclones sports, including wrestling, gymnastics, and volleyball, but most notably for Iowa State Basketball.

Constructed in 1971, the Coliseum is in need of upgrades, as school officials have made known in years past. The arena was scheduled to get upwards of $25 million worth of renovations, but that project has officially been put off.

Per KCRG, Iowa State University Athletics is making significant budget cuts due to a $147 million budget deficit through the year 2031. That averages $24.5 million a year.

The athletics budget cuts include the $25 million Hilton Coliseum renovation, postponed construction of a new $20 million wrestling practice facility, initiated cost reduction mandates in all sports to slow the growth of overall expenses, and passing on the annual cost of sale tax on ticket sales to consumers.

The large, unexpected deficit comes from a variety of factors including the Big 12’s realignment of ten to sixteen teams and a distribution model from the College Football Playoff. It negatively impacted the conference for their distribution model for revenue, which limits the amount of money each school receives.

Per Iowa Regents that governs Iowa's public universities, "the ISU Athletic Department is a self-sustaining auxiliary enterprise and receives no general university support. In the past two years there have been several transformational changes in college athletics that will result in $30M in recurring annual financial repercussions to the Athletics Department beginning this year.

Those changes include Big 12 Conference realignment from 10 to 16 teams, as stated above, adjustment of the distribution model for revenue generated by the College Football Playoff (negatively impacting the Big 12 Conference), and the House v. NCAA settlement which creates a model to distribute revenue to student athletes."

Iowa State, and the Big 12 in general, are on the wrong end of the College Football Playoff realignment along with other key factors. While the budget cuts should not affect the teams in general, the athletic department has taken a big blow due to the unforeseen circumstances.