OMAHA, Neb.—Nebraska Auditor Mike Foley on Wednesday questioned the way state agencies handle the Husker sports tickets they receive as part of advertising contracts.
Foley said more than 2,500 tickets to University of Nebraska-Lincoln sporting events worth more than $125,000 were provided to state agencies, boards or other entities as part of Husker Sports Network deals. The tickets included football skybox passes valued at more than $500 apiece, and Foley says state officials didn’t always track who used them.
Many state officials argue the tickets are being used properly. For instance, the state lottery gave away the tickets as prizes, and the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services gave most of its tickets to medical groups that helped pay for its colon cancer awareness ads.
Foley said state officials shouldn’t use tickets an agency receives as part of its advertising contract because the tickets were bought with public money. And if the tickets aren’t tracked closely, he said, they can easily be abused.
“My view on this is really quite simple: state employees and their family and friends should not be attending Husker sporting events on the public’s dime,” Foley said.
Nebraska Lottery spokesman Brian Rockey said most of the roughly 1,400 tickets his agency received over the past three years were given away as prizes. Some were used as incentives for lottery retailers.
“We always want to be careful with resources like that,” Rockey said.
Another large ticket user among state agencies was the health and human services department. Chief Medical Officer Joann Schaefer says the agency’s partners paid for about half the advertising contract and those organizations, such as the Nebraska Medical Association, used most of the tickets.
Schaefer said the agency decided to advertise during game broadcasts because they were trying to reach men and explain the dangers of colon cancer. She said the campaign appears to be paying off because cancer-screening numbers are up.
The only time HHS staff used tickets was to hand out educational materials at games, she said.
But HHS officials found it cumbersome to keep track of the tickets and make sure they get used, so the agency opted not to accept any tickets in its current Husker advertising contract, which was approved before Foley issued his report.
“It turned out to be kind of a hassle,” Schaefer said.
The ticket issue became a concern for Foley because the Nebraska Corn Board asked the auditor’s office last fall for guidance on whether accepting Husker tickets and other incentives in a new advertising contract was proper.
The board was in the process of renewing its contract with the Husker Sports Network, and it wanted to consult Foley because it had received 28 tickets to last fall’s Oklahoma game. The board signed a new advertising contract with the network last month, but declined to accept any tickets as part of the deal.
Foley referred his findings to the state Accountability and Disclosure Commission for any action. Executive Director Frank Daley said the matter is under review, but he declined to comment on the issue.
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