When the 2012-2013 club hockey season ended for the Ducks, they faced a new opponent: debt. Oregon hockey had accumulated around $17,000 worth of cost during their season which needed to be paid — and soon.
When the team coordinator graduated last winter, the team inherited debt that they did not know how to deal with.
“It was just kind of left in our lap,” current team coordinator Patrick Sgarlata said. “It was like, ‘Wow. We have no idea how to fundraise. I’ve never done this before. I’ve never organized a hockey team at all.’ We got a lot of help from Club Sports. The people in there are really helpful.”
According to Club Sports Coordinator Kristen Gleason, the help came mainly in the form of knowledge.
“Our office worked with them a lot in building awareness in terms of thinking about things like their member due structure and fundraising,” Gleason said. “We do this with all of our clubs. We encourage year-round fundraising. If it (a tournament) is going to be in the spring, why not do fundraising activities in the fall in your off-season?”
All of the pressure wasn’t placed solely on Sgarlata’s shoulders, though. Once the team learned about their financial situation, it quickly became a group effort.
“It was kind of just sprung upon all of us,” Will Daniels, who is playing his fourth season for the Ducks, said. “No one really knew about it, but once Pat looked everything over, we realized, ‘Wow. We’re in some serious trouble right now and we need to figure a way out of it.’”
Surprise or not, debt was their reality and one which needed to be fixed quickly. If Ducks hockey did not pull themselves into the green before the next season, Club Sports was not going to allow them to play.
“We have a small threshold of deficit spending,” Gleason said. “It kind of varies depending on the club, but we keep that to a minimum.
“Hockey is unique in that their expenses are considerable because they have to rent off-campus ice time. That can get pretty tricky with them because they pretty much start the year in debt. They’re always trying to catch up.”
Playing the catch-up game was a difficult one, but the team came together to host fundraisers with Track Town Pizza and Yogurt Extreme and even a benefit concert at the McDonald Theatre with local ’90s tribute band Bulls on Parade.
Even with money coming in from the concert and other fundraisers, more help was still needed and the team turned to their friends, family and Ducks hockey alumni for donations.
“(Contacting alumni and family) actually worked out really well,” Sgarlata said. “We sent out newsletters and were like, ‘Hey, if you donate this much, we’ll give you a jersey, a team photo or stuff like that.’ I think that got a lot of people to donate because we got a lot of donations in those exact amounts.”
With annual expenses for the team coming in around $90,000, fighting debt is an ongoing battle.
The team plans to hold more fundraisers later this season.
“Our financial situation is that we are currently in a small hole of debt and are constantly fighting to stay above water and out of the red with money,” Sgarlata said.
Follow Anne Yilmaz on Twitter @anneyilmaz
[Originally published here by the Daily Emerald on October 8, 2013]