Five days after the NCAA took the drastic step of canceling the rest of the 2019-20 college sports season in March, two high-level officials in the University of Wisconsin athletic department compared notes on the financial challenges that were coming.
Adam Barnes, who had been in his position as chief financial officer and associate athletic director for business operations less than a year, detailed a series of financial talking points in an email to deputy athletic director Chris McIntosh.
At that point in mid-March, Barnes already understood that UW athletics was facing a sizeable financial hit to a $140 million operating budget if the 2020 football season was impacted by the coronavirus.