In a deal quietly hammered out last week, New Jersey leaders agreed to earmark $100 million in taxpayer money to Rutgers University in the upcoming state budget to help fund the renovation of the state school’s aging basketball arena and kick-start a multimillion-dollar indoor football practice facility, NJ Advance Media has learned.
Another $150 million in state funding was appropriated for the university’s medical schools and $50 million for a massive research complex being built in downtown New Brunswick, sources familiar with the agreement said.
The money is part of the new $50.6 billion state government spending proposal that Gov. Phil Murphy and his fellow Democrats who control the state Legislature agreed to Monday. It was Murphy’s administration that facilitated the Rutgers deal after meeting with school officials during the final stretch of budget negotiations with lawmakers, according to two legislative sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak publicly about the matter.
The enormous budget proposal — bolstered by a surge in tax revenue and covering the 2023 fiscal year that begins Friday — moved swiftly through both the state Senate and Assembly budget committees shortly after it was introduced Monday. The full Legislature is now expected to pass the plan Wednesday, with Murphy set to sign it into law Thursday, a day before the constitutional deadline.
Both Murphy’s office and Rutgers officials confirmed the total $300 million in additional appropriations to the school. The budget proposal itself says the money is for “capital needs.”
Alyana Alfaro Post, a spokeswoman for Murphy, said in a statement the budget includes funding for colleges across the state, including Rutgers.
“This allocation of funds was negotiated with the Legislature after discussions on ensuring that schools have the tools needed to adequately fund both academics and extracurricular activities,” Alfaro Post added.
A spokesman for the university called the state spending plan a “great budget that prioritizes students, academics and research” at Rutgers.
“The investments that the proposed budget makes in Rutgers University will help the state establish its role as a global leader in the innovation economy, will provide several hundred million dollars for aid to students and for making improvements to essential academic facilities in New Brunswick, Newark and Camden, and will provide seed money for enhancements to athletics facilities that will be overwhelmingly funded through private donations,” said Peter McDonough Jr., the university’s senior vice president for external affairs.
McDonough said the leadership shown by the state Senate, the Assembly, and the governor “reflects across-the-board support for programs that will enhance Rutgers’ prominence at all of our campuses and will give us the financial tools to guarantee that a world-class education at one of America’s leading public research universities remains accessible and affordable to every qualified New Jersey student who chooses to come to Rutgers.”
The bulk of the $300 million added to the budget for Rutgers is for academics and research, including $50 million for ”The Hub,” a project that will include the new Rutgers Translational Research facility and the Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School.
But the $100 million in capital funding for two long-sought athletics facilities privately rankled some lawmakers. The officials declined to discuss the concerns on the record as the Legislature prepares to vote on the budget negotiated by the governor and legislative leaders.
One legislative source called it a “stunning” move in the wake of “fiscal irresponsibility” at the university’s athletic department.
Last year, Rutgers athletics rang up the largest deficit in school history. The university spent $118.4 million to fund its athletics program in 2021, an NJ Advance Media analysis of financial records found, running up a $73.3 million deficit.
Rutgers earlier this month raised its tuition and student fees for next year by 2.9% as part of the $5.1 billion 2022-23 budget.
Among the projects the new round of state funding would help pay for is a planned major upgrade of the Rutgers basketball arena in Piscataway, which opened in 1977. Once known as the Rutgers Athletic Center, or the RAC, and now the Jersey Mike’s Arena, the facility has been the focus of an ongoing study into possible improvements.
The other is a new football operations center and practice facility seen by head football coach Greg Schiano as a centerpiece for his next generation of Scarlet Knights.
The costly proposal led to significant tension when Schiano first put it on the table as part of his contract demands when he was lured back to take charge of the program.
Initially, Schiano insisted on a guarantee that the facility be ready by June 2023, or he be allowed to walk away from his $32 million contract without penalty. After talks between the two sides briefly collapsed, the university agreed to launch a $500,000 conceptual design study. But Rutgers insisted it would not proceed with shovels in the ground unless private donors stepped up.
According to his agreement with the university, Schiano agreed to work with Athletic Director Patrick Hobbs “in efforts to obtain private funding commitments to cover the final projected cost of said facilities.” The expectation is that he help raise at least 50% of the projected cost that has no current price tag.
University officials noted that even with the latest round of state funding, both the arena and practice facility will require “substantial private fundraising” before they can proceed.
That might take some doing.
Last year, according to the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics and USA TODAY, Rutgers ranked near the bottom on donor support of athletics within its Big Ten conference.
Only the University of Maryland raised less money.
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NJ Advance Media staff writer Keith Sargeant contributed to this report.
Brent Johnson may be reached at bjohnson@njadvancemedia.com.
Ted Sherman may be reached at tsherman@njadvancemedia.com.
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