WSU Audit finds mismanagement in athletics complimentary ticket sales

PULLMAN, Wash. — An internal audit of WSU Athletics’ 2016 football ticket sales revealed inflation to home football game attendance and potential violations of state law.

The purpose of the audit was to investigate complimentary tickets given out for a home game against University of Arizona on Nov. 5, 2016.

Auditors found that athletics employees were communicating poorly with each other and that “the environment within Athletics, as it existed during the scope period and through the end of fieldwork, did not support a culture of compliance or fiscal responsibility.”

The audit aimed to ensure WSU was following regulations for tickets and passes to games, but it uncovered other problems associated with attendance data, benefits for athletics employees, handling of cash, contract management and ethics training.

Due to these issues, auditors expanded their investigation and determined that the WSU Athletics Compliance Office did not receive detailed information about who received free tickets, which could result in NCAA violations.

The auditors requested records to determine who received tickets for four seats in the club section of the football stadium. However, Athletics was unable to provide these records because former Deputy Director of Athletics Mike Marlow destroyed the records at the end of the football season.

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