Al McGuire Center operating budget is indeed endowed....

[Harrison]

It was posted earlier that an athletic department expense was the operating budget of the Al.  That is incorrect, as is common with the fundraising for any building on a college campus a good share of the necessary funding is dedicated to an endowment that covers labor, utilities, and other operating costs for the building.  Nowdays, as was the case for the Al ground is not broken until a number has been hit, usually around 80%, of the total cost to build and the necessary endowment to cover ongoing expenses.  It is a prudent move in the past Universities were at times in a rush to build the physical plant but often ran into shortfalls when attempting to pay the expenses going forward.  Endowing them addresses that risk.  Oftentimes that endowmnet is a good percentage of the total cost.  my recollection was it was approx. 40-50% of the cost of the Al.

[ChicosBailBonds]

Yes there is an endowment to cover many of those expenses which is tied to a budget.  I have been told by several that they have had to dip into AD department budgets to cover overages.  If that is the case, then that means robbing peter to pay paul and thus having to use some resources to cover operating expenses.