As an entity that receives government funding, the Independence Bowl Foundation is audited every fiscal year. The nerd that I am, I found the latest audit (fiscal year ending 2/29/08) on the Louisiana Legislative Auditors website. Even the auditors of the Bowl have doubts about the bowl game's ability to continue its operations.
For the year ended February 29, 2008, the Bowl reported a net loss of approx. $450k, which includes approx. $500k in grants from local governments. For the fiscal year, the Bowl also wrote off $800k of bad debts because PetroSun could not pay its fee as title sponsor.As shown in the accompanying financial statements, the Foundation incurred a net decrease in net assets of $452,336 during the current period due to reserving the accounts receivable from its title sponsor for $800,000. This results in the Foundation having a deficit in net assets of $376,529.
In response to this situation, management has implemented an expense reduction plan as well as a plan to increase sponsorship revenues from various state and local governments, individuals, and companies.
Because it is unclear whether the Foundation will be successful in accomplishing these objectives, there is uncertainty about whether the Foundation has the ability to continue as a going concern. The financial statements do not include any adjustments that might be necessary should the Foundation be unable to continue as a going concern.
The Bowl also still owed approx $1.4 million to the University of Alabama and the University of Colorado. As a result, in the fiscal year that will end 2/28/09, the Bowl received $560k to pay part of the $1.4 million.
Since the fiscal year ending 2/28/05, the Bowl's net assets (retained earnings) has gone from $1.1 million to approx <$400> (yes, that's a negative $400k). That's a loss of $1.5 million in just a couple years.
I really can't wait to see what the audit will reveal this coming year!
PS- yea, I know I'm a nerd.