Many people may not know that the state of Wyoming has a fleet of at least four jets. They also may be surprised to know that the University of Wyoming occasionally flies its high-dollar donors around for free in them.
This free travel is what has the Wyoming Freedom Caucus upset, drawing attention to a flight of some donors in November, where the school took six people to Texas Tech to watch the UW men’s basketball team play.
“Taxpayers shouldn’t be party to a ‘pay to play’ scheme, no matter who it’s benefitting,” state Rep. Rachel Rodriguez-Williams, R-Cody, chairman of the Freedom Caucus, told Cowboy State Daily. “Once donors are rewarded with lucrative flights, they’re not donors anymore.”
Over the past year, the Wyoming Legislature, and specifically the Freedom Caucus, have become increasingly critical of UW policies and fields of study, stripping the school of its money for the Diversity, Equity, Inclusion office.
What Happened?
The donors were flown down and back to Lubbock, Texas, in mid-November as part of the benefits package offered through the private, nonprofit Cowboy Joe Club, a foundation that financially supports the school’s athletics department.
UW Athletics Director Tom Burman told Cowboy State Daily the $6,915 airplane trip was completely paid for by the Cowboy Joe Club, a private nonprofit, and is considered a rental of a state plane.
“There’s no state match in it, there’s no state money,” Burman said.
Burman explained that for people who donate more than $10,000 to the Cowboy Joe Club per year, they qualify for a benefits package that gets them a free trip to an out-of-state game.
Usually, these donors are flown on the football team’s charter jet to road games in seats not filled up by members of the team.
The Cowboy Joe Club doesn’t pay for this travel, but Burman said it results in no extra cost for the school, as these seats would have sat empty on the plane if not occupied by the donors.
“You’re paying for the seat anyway, whether it’s open or not,” Burman said.
A One-Off
But spacing limitations on football flights led to the standalone donor trip that took place in November, Burman said.
Burman said this was the only one that took place this year, and five have happened over the past three years for trips to see UW men’s and women’s basketball games.
Even if the Cowboy Joe Club covered the expenses of the trip, some like Rep. John Bear, R-Gillette, argue it still led to a cost for the taxpayers based on the use of the plane.
“They’re taking it out of the taxpayer’s funds whether it’s transferred out of UW or not or the Cowboy Joe Club in part,” he said.
Burman responded that the plane is better off being flown for nearly $7,000 than sitting on the ground unpaid for.
Burman, who has been the UW athletics director for 17 years and worked in college athletics since 1995, said these types of rewards for high-dollar donors are extremely common throughout America.
Flying donors on team jets, he said, is standard throughout college athletics, even at schools much smaller than UW.
He said high-dollar donors give to the university not only for the cause of philanthropy, but also to attain unique experiences like sideline access at football games, access to coaches and other perks.
“It’s part of what motivates them,” Burman said. “It’s very common.”
Without these perks, Burman told the Freedom Caucus in a letter, he believes the number of people who contribute more than $10,000 would be fewer and said that the six donors shuttled on the Texas trip have given more than $600,000 to UW athletics during their lifetimes.
Wyoming’s Jets
The state of Wyoming owns two jets and UW has its own plane. The state’s jets are frequently used by the governor and other state officials.
In addition to the game trips, UW also flies its administrators around the country for events and its coaches on about 10 recruiting trips a year.
Burman said the school typically only uses the state planes for this travel because its own plane is a turboprop that’s usually reserved for longer plane trips of four hours or longer.
He believes flying donors in state jets does constitute a state purpose.
“The Department of Athletics views this as an important piece of our fundraising plan,” he said. “These donors are most valuable and they’ve helped us in endowments and capital projects for years. That reduces the pressure on intercollegiate athletics from a funding perspective.”
Larger Questions
Bear, like some other Wyoming conservatives, said he doesn’t see eye-to-eye with a high prioritization of athletics in society. A significant amount of money has been spent in his home of Campbell County on various sports facilities.
“My community values athletics very high, which has been frustrating at times for me because I believe it comes at the expense of academics,” he said. “Sports play a role in society, but I don’t value it as high.”
As part of the state’s budget, a matching contribution of every dollar raised in the Cowboy Joe Club, up to $5 million, is matched by the state of Wyoming and given to the university’s athletic department.
Bear said he’s tried to strip this matching funding in the Legislature multiple times.
Burman said the gross revenue to the Cowboy Joe Club, excluding the state’s contribution, is about $5.5 million per year. Both of these sums make up a significant portion of the athletic department’s $45 million budget.
As for the value for Wyoming to have a strong, well-funded athletics program at the university, Burman said it’s almost immeasurable in its marketing and recruitment pull, as well as cultural benefit to the state.
“It’s one of the few things that tie us all together,” he said. “When you come to a game in Laramie, you see people from every corner of the state. When Wyoming Cowboys are playing football on TV and you pop in a bar in Dubois, there’s a group of people sitting around watching the Cowboys game. I think that is great.”
Leo Wolfson can be reached at leo@cowboystatedaily.com.
