The University of Wisconsin athletic department is asking for an 11 percent hike in spending authority for the 2019-20 fiscal year.
The Athletic Board's Finance, Facilities and Operations Committee on Wednesday unanimously voted to forward the request for a budget of $159.4 million to the full board on Friday.
The expense total is $15.9 million higher than in the 2018-19 budget, and $54.8 million more than it was five years earlier, a 61 percent increase.
Mario Morris, UW's associate athletic director for business operations, said the yearly escalation was due largely to a $20 million price tag for three major capital projects and a 2 percent increase in the campus centralized services assessment for shared operations.