NMSU athletics gets $3.5M gift to fill budget gap

LAS CRUCES, New Mexico --  After the pandemic trashed financial budgeting throughout the nation for college athletic programs, a new program is offering aid.

The New Mexico State University athletics department was staring down the barrel of a $3.5 million gap in its budget, partially due to the loss of big money games last year at Florida and UCLA because of the pandemic.

"When you take out the two football games we had projected only around a $700,000.00 deficit," said NMSU Athletics Director Mario Moccia.

The Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund, or HEERF, will help to fill some of that loss, according to Moccia.

HEERF is an extenuation of the CARES Act passed b Congress to aid businesses suffering economically from the Covid-19 pandemic.

"It was a massive relief to be told that we were going to be able to take part in this HEERF funding to assist and balance the budget," Moccia said.