In case you hadn’t noticed, there’s a new sheriff in town.

His name is Lew Perkins, and the long arm of his law has reached into nearly every corner of Kansas University athletics.

In the two months Perkins has been KU’s athletic director, he has sent clear messages he would not tread water as he actively pursued new methods to enhance revenue.

Perkins hasn’t gone so far as to announce it will cost Allen Fieldhouse patrons a quarter to use the restrooms. At least, not yet. But it’s no secret he will try to squeeze every penny he can out of men’s basketball, the department’s flagship program.

Perkins already has hatched a priority points system for Allen Fieldhouse seating that will be implemented during the 2004-2005 season. Once that plan is fine-tuned, controversy is sure to follow.

You can almost hear the howling now from patrons who will have the choice either to give until it hurts or be moved to less desirable seats. The noise generated may make an earlier outcry from a handful of disgruntled ticket holders who were asked to pony up or be moved sound like background music.

On another front, Perkins tried to wheedle $6,000 out of the Lawrence school district for each time Free State High used Memorial Stadium. That’s twice has much as Haskell Indian Nations University charges for the use of its football stadium. Eventually, Perkins agreed to chop the fee to $3,700, but the handwriting on the wall looks like a flashing neon sign.

If you want to use Kansas University’s athletic facilities, Perkins is saying, it will cost you.

Without a doubt, KU’s greatest potential for additional revenue lies in increased football attendance. Still, Perkins didn’t just topple off the turnip truck. He knows KU’s football crowds will grow only in proportion to winning, and while the football program may not be in a marathon mode any longer, it certainly hasn’t reached sprint status yet.

¢ Text of Perkins’ letter to Kansas University athletic donors

Thus, it is naive to expect quick funding gratification from football.

In the long run, football could be the answer, but Perkins can’t wait. He needs revenue now to elevate Kansas from second-class status in the Big 12 Conference.

In the short term, Perkins has targeted contributors. Donors, Perkins believes, hold the key to a rapid turnaround in KU’s athletic stagnation. Benefactors, he believes, must supply the necessary money to upgrade everything from the number of computer rooms in the academic support center to the construction of new track, tennis and soccer facilities.

So far, Perkins hasn’t come right out and asked for the money. He has greased the skids, however. Late last month, he sent a letter to KU’s established donors, informing them — if they didn’t already know — there will be changes in the ways the athletic department conducts its business.

“In the weeks ahead,” Perkins wrote, “my staff and I will be reviewing every avenue available to increase our annual budget. We will be looking at contracts, fund-raising, annual donations, marketing and ticket sales, to name a few.”

Parenthetically, if those are just a few, I’d like to know what the others are, because those are really KU’s ONLY sources of meaningful revenue.

Perkins also wrote he would keep the donors informed about “changes in our policies regarding the purchase of season tickets for KU sporting events, and for post-season events.”

You can read between those lines, can’t you?

In closing, Perkins thanked the benefactors for their “continued generosity.”

So, like it or not, Perkins is shaking up the Kansas University athletic department, which is why Chancellor Robert Hemenway hired him and made him the highest-paid employee on the Lawrence campus in the first place.

Business as usual wasn’t working, so Hemenway pinned a badge on the new lawman, told him to round up a posse and go after the Big 12 barons. With the posse nearly complete, we can expect they’ll be mounting up soon.