COLUMBIA, Mo. - As part of sweeping budget cuts in response to the coronavirus pandemic, the University of Missouri athletics departments will save $5 million with layoffs, furloughs and salary reductions, athletics director Jim Sterk told his employees in an email sent Friday and obtained by the Post-Dispatch.
The layoffs, furloughs and a three-tiered salary reduction plan will account for nearly a third of $16.5 million in planned budget cuts for the department, Sterk wrote. Sterk and leaders across the Southeastern Conference have said they expect the college football season to start on time this fall, but MU’s department is projecting a 20-percent revenue shortfall for the year.